Apples and Oranges
by Glaser
Summary: This book has two authors. THe first chapter is mine then my friends ect. Adriana is a hunter, she kills unhuman things. Akeyla is a demigoddess of Posiden who gets a quest to befriend this highly dangerous hunter who will someday be the down fall of him.
1. Adriana The moon

Chapter 1; Adriana

Prolog;

My fifth school in two years—humans are so arrogant. You save the world and they reward you with explosion. I mean what's the deal with that? It's not like I didn't expect it, I mean it's been happening to me since second grade. Humans don't like what they don't understand. I'm human and I even admit that that is one of my fatal flaws. I hate not understanding things. It takes away some of the control that you have left on your life and humans are all about control.

Principle Morgan was furious with me but she's stupid anyway. Our discussion was short and sweet—to the point. I've been through enough of these conversations in my life time. She never understood me from the first time I stepped into the school wearing a black jump suit. She gave me "special attention," which really means freak watch. She thought that she could change me. Huh. She thought that she could comb me over and make me one of her perfect little students. Then I burned the library down to ruins.

"Ms. Lee." She nodded at me as I took a sit on one of her uncomfortable seats. As long as she's going to expel me I'd take advantage of being badass. I put my combat boot feet up on her desk and leaned back casually. "Adriana." She ignored my feet because I had something over all of the other kids in this school. They all feared me. I had that aura that naturally kept people away from me. Even my gang back at home didn't have the same intimidation that I had.

"You're expelled." She said with a smooth face. The vision of a cougar and a stallion flashed through my head. She may think that she's all high and mighty until the cougar decides to leap.

I expected nothing else both those two words. I never get away unnoticed like the monsters do. They are overlooked because they have the same intimidation as I have but they don't even look semi-normal so the human brain rejects any possibility of abnormality.

Everything is happy here.

See we're all smiling.

It's all an act.

"Yeah I figured." I muttered looking up at the old cracked ceiling. I swung my legs back down from her desk and stood.

All of my school processions were in my bag and zipped away. I turned in my lock this morning—I knew that this was coming. When Mrs. Morgan called me down to her office from World History everyone stared and I waved to them and called 'good bye.'

No one made those stupid 'oohing' noises like they did to everyone else. They were afraid to say anything so they only stared. Staring. That was a bigger part of my life then the blood is.

"I hope you survive when I'm gone." I smirked because I knew that they probably won't. Well not all of them will. Those who are slightly educated will have a chance but the others will disappear and they will blame each other. They'll call it gang behavior or psychos on the loose.

"I think we'll manage." Her thin lips draw a straight line.

She was an ugly old hag. Hawk like eyes that looked big with her large glasses, like the bottoms of glass bottles. Everything about her just said bird, her big pointy nose like a beak and her frail little body that I could break so easily.

No, I was wrong about the stallion comparison, she is not as honorable as a horse. She is a crow and the cougar is sitting in the tree just waiting for her to land. Of course such a little crow wouldn't be appetizing to the cougar so it ignores ii. It's not even worth her time.

"Have a nice life." I mumbled bitterly even though I meant it. I hoped that her life would be long and nice and not be interrupted by those vile things that I dedicated myself to hunting.

"Good-bye ingrates." I whispered to myself. Everyone stared but I didn't give them a second glace. Staring was part of the job, they would all be telling stories when I'm gone. When a new kid shows up they'll tell them about the last new kid that stayed here for a total of three months before being expelled. They'll say how she was part of a dangerous gang and, you know what, they'll be right.

I slammed the oak door shut on school number five.

Things need explaining like why I'm so terribly messed up. I haven't always been like this heartless monster with the pretty face and the deadly hands. Once I was a little girl with a big brother and a dad. My mom was never in the picture. After I was born she sort of just never showed up and I was too young to ask any questions.

My dad was brining me and my brother on a cruise. I could ride for free because I was three and kids under four could ride for free. We were celebrating my birthday since I was officially four years old tomorrow. It was my last day of being three so it would be my last day of being free to ride the big ship.

It wasn't one of those Caribbean cruises, we weren't that wealthy. It was a short cruise around the water near New York City. They showed us the Statue of Liberty then went out into the sea to look for marine life.

My brother is a whole year older then I am. He was a big kid with big friends and got to ride the big yellow bus everyday—almost. He looked like I was but he had black hair like my dad while as I had brown hair that caught the sunlight like blond hair does or like how the moon reflects the sunlight. He didn't like having his little sister hanging around him all the time like most big brothers and like most little sisters I thought he was the best thing in the whole world.

The man on the dock asked how old I was and before my dad could respond I answered.

"I'm four years old." I held up a whole hand with my thumb down to show him how many fingers that was. It was almost my whole right hand.

He looked at my father for conformation. He shook his head no. "She's four tomorrow." His smile was bright. He loved annoying people with loopholes.

"Very well." He took the green bills from my dad and moved out of the way for us to cross the big wooden plank. I felt like Wendy on Peter Pan. I looked at the green waves under my feet and wondered if I could fly like Wendy too. I didn't test it because I wasn't a stupid little girl.

The boat was big and loud. It moved slowly but me and Roger watched the boats pass us with their big engines. Roger was handsome and looked like my daddy. He had the same black hair and flashing green eyes.

He chased me around the boat pretending to be an ocean monster. I was afraid of monsters so I screamed as loud as I could. I ran away. I had dreams of monsters but in my dreams I wasn't afraid, I found them and scared them with my big knives. I was a hero in my own imagination.

"Ah! Roger!" I giggled and hid in a closet with orange jackets and a sign that said something that only big kids could read.

They were funny looking jackets so naturally I dressed myself in them. I had one around my neck and one around my waist. Now I looked like a monster and could scare Roger. He would be the one who would run away from me like the monsters in my dreams.

"Rawr." I growled when I stepped out of the closet. Alarms went off and people started screaming. I didn't mean to scare all of them, just Roger.

Strangers rushed past me and into the dress-up closet. They were concealing themselves in monster armor so they could scare me. It worked. They all looked so scary and the big smoking towers were flashing red with the shrill screaming of the alarms. A tear ran down my cheek. Where's my daddy?

"I'm not a monster." I assured them but they ignored me and kept pushing. "I'm not a monster I repeated when a man threw me into a boat and cut the ropes with a pretty silver knife. We fell and I only watched as the boat went into chaos because of me. Of course now I know that the boat was sinking and it was completely out of my control. But then I was wallowing in the guilt that I killed my own family.

The big ship that had Roger and daddy on it was disappearing under the waves and fast. It was like it was on a big sink hole like in my backyard when I step on the grass and the ground collapses only it was in the water. The man who saved me watched the ship dispassionately.

He did something with his hands and the ship sunk right down. A wave pushed us away quickly. He assessed me silently as big tears fell from my chin. His eyes seemed to like my tears. He watched them like they were diamonds instead of salty water.

"Dear girl. Where do you live?"

"My daddy…" I started crying harder. "You drowned him!" Even when I was at such a young age I understood. Imagination is acceptance and young children have a lot of imagination, that's what allows them to see the dreams of the gods and through the thick fog that keeps humans from seeing what really goes on under their noses.

"I am Poseidon, Neptune, Hagios Nikolaos, Yamm, what ever you prefer." He had strong pride in his rumbley voice that made the sea stir under our little life boat. "You must answer my question."

"Go away!" I shouted with the same power—just a different kind. I had the power of innocence taken away, security stolen; I had every right to hate this man.

I was alone in a blow up tube kind of boat in the middle of New York Harbor. Big ships carrying giant boxes passed me sending big waves at my little one. I did what every rational three—almost four—year old girl would do, I cried for my mommy—something I've never done before. Somehow I survived that without being harmed…on the outside.

I turned hard. It took me three years to google the name Poseidon. He's a god as is all the other names. He's the reason I'm an orphan. Being an orphan made it easy to boycott Christmas because there was never much money to but me gifts. I hated Christmas.

You might be wondering what—Christmas? It has nothing to do with Poseidon. You're wondering that aren't you? You are!

Poseidon was the reason Christmas came around…sort of. He was what Santa Claus was derived from. Over time the name Hagios Nikolaos turned into St. Nick and you know what that became. All the kids where talking about how excited they were for Santa coming so I told them flat out that he didn't exist and his muse is a rotten thief. I was put in time out for that part.

"Santa" did give me a present though. His mistake was that he armed me with two deadly weapons. He gave me isolation and reason for destruction. He was the reason I have to live in foster homes where I just happened to come across a demigod who told me everything I needed to know. Yes, they are very real.

I kill them. I kill monsters and I pray for the day that I get to give Poseidon a piece of my mind. He'll never forget this face—this angelic face with a demon underneath.

Adriana Lee.

But I'm not on my way to see the king of the sea I'm on my way to my sixth high school in Los Angeles. I was watching the buildings fly by. The bag that my hand rested on had weapons very illegal and dangerous. I wasn't one to be messed with. Too bad I was on my way to live with some weirdoes.

The McDurf family.

My ancient silver eyes stared back at me from the window of the train I was riding. My eyes that were like moons always looked lonely like the moon did. I always wondered if the reason wolves howled at the moon was because they were trying to tell the moon that it wasn't always lonely. I felt like that I was the moon and my gang was my wolves and now I was being sent away from them.

The moon never felt as lonely as I do.


	2. Anakeyla The sea

Chapter2; Annakeyla

I looked up at my twin brother. If you want to get into the specifics, I was born first by ten minutes. He rolled his eyes at me when our dad spoke.

"Annakeyla." My dad Poseidon said.

No, my dad was not named _after _the sea god Poseidon. He _was_ the sea god. My brother and I were his only demigod children.

Let me know how you take that.

"Yes. Dad?" I said , trying not to sound bored. I was always bored unless we were in Olympus. I loved to run off with the nine muses and Apollo and Hermes—or Athena and Artemis when they taught me awesome arrow shooting tricks or sword tricks. Athena taught me Greek and Latin; and was amazing at keeping me interested even with my restlessness of being connected to the sea. The sea was never resting, my dad always told me. Maybe that's why Athena didn't like him much. "I need you to go to Olympus—" my dad said.

--Thank the gods! I didn't enjoy being stuck in my dad's palace—

"—and train with Artemis. I will be giving you a….interesting quest when you return." He said. His curly light brown hair was shorter then it was when I'd visited last month. Every month I visited him. He'd described the quest he was giving to give me pretty weirdly but at the time I didn't think twice about it. I looked out at the sea and I thought about my mother—who was, yes one-hundred percent mortal but also one-hundred percent the nicest woman ever.

She died last year when Hades' bastard son was assigned a 'quest' to kill her.

He succeeded. Well, his friend did.

And 'til this day I hate anything that has to do with Hades, the underworld or tall and skinny kids with long and greasy black hair just like Hades' son Nicholas.

We tried to protect my mom—me and my brother, Poseidon, and even Zeus helped slightly too—but the bastard had a demigod of Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, and a demititan—which is really, _really_ not good—on his side.

You know, why don't I just run you through the whole story?

It was April seventeenth; spring break had just started (if you don't count the weekend). Back then my mom, brother and I lived in West Hampton, Long Island, New York. We didn't have a humungous house—just a really nice condo right on the bay.

"Annakeyla!" Leo yelled, walking into my room. I looked up from my sketch of a replica of the Parthenon. Next to it laid my design for the inside of the building—all based on my heritage of Greek.

I wanted to design buildings. I wouldn't call it architecture because I wanted to do the inside too. I wanted to design the whole thing.

"What's up Leo?" I asked him when I saw the look on his face I got confused. He looked…scared.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"It's…Hades sent someone after mom. To…to…" He couldn't bring himself to say 'kill' but I got the gist.

I folded up my drawings and pulled out two duffel bags. Opening my drawers, I began to dump all of my favorite clothes in them.

"Get packed. Tell mom to get packed. We're taking a plane to the west coast; whatever's open. And we're going to Dad's. Grab your sword and shield. I have a feeling you're gonna need them." I said, throwing my bow and arrow across my shoulder. "Nikela!" I said and the bow and arrow was a lime green drawstring bag.

"Mom!" I shouted.

"I know, I know!" She said. "Don't worry about me though. We don't have to do this." She said hugging us.

She was kinder then kind, prettier then pretty and had a heart of gold to match her golden blonde hair. Her eyes were a chocolate brown color and her rosy cheeks always glowed. She was the perfect mom, the perfect marine biologist…amazing. Her only flaw was my former step dad who'd abused her. Glad she divorced him and kicked his ass.

That's all you're getting on him. Period.

"mom. We are not going to let psycho Hades demigod kill you. We're going to Poseidon's," Leo said.

She sighed. "I couldn't ask for better children. But I will not let you get hurt for me whatsoever. Just a quick plane ride, then dolphin ride and done. Fast as possible. Got it?" She asked us, clearly feeling guilty for putting us in danger.

"Ya, ma. Just hurry up, okay? We're freaking out," I choked. My head was spinning. I was terrified.

She hugged me and kissed my forehead.

"Everything's gonna be okay sweetie." She told me.

I wished that when she said that it'd become true.

But we weren't fast enough. We made it through the airport just fine (though there was a lot of turbulence because Zeus didn't appreciate children of Poseidon, his rival brother—or his sort of wives), but not all the way out of San Francisco.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Annakeyla, the girl who killed my Chimera," a voice said as we got onto a private beach to jump on the dolphins.

Nicholas Acheres, son of Hades, was standing across the beach from us with two friends; one I'd recognized at the time to be Lucas Nemera, son of Nemesis. The other was Colin (Last name unknown), son of Kronos, the titan, lord of time. Every two-thousand years his spirit has… well you know…with a mortal girl and poof out comes a demititan.

"Ya, so sorry about that. Next time tell it to stop killing Kara, my best friend, daughter of Zeus," I snapped. "Leo, take mom and go," I whispered.

"Annakeyla, absolutely not!" My mom hissed.

"Mom, it's you they want, not me. I got this," I said, reassuring myself more then her.

"Anna…" Leo started.

"Go!" I hissed. "When I say go!"

"You got nerve, Annakeyla," Lucas said, "Give us your mom and we'll let you and your brother live."

"Oh, so we play peaceful now huh, vengeance boy? You actually spare people? Surprising," I said, sounding actually interested and surprised. "Go now!" I whispered to my brother. "Did your mom teach you that?" I asked Lucas.

"She's getting away!" Colin yelled as Lucas and Nicholas were looking at me weird.

"Di immortals!" I swore in Greek. My mom and brother were in the water. I did the smart thing and charged at the three of my enemies. I shot Lucas with a stunning arrow. He lay petrified on the sand.

"Not with me, Annie," Nicholas said, pulling out his black Onyx sword.

I screamed and lunged at him with a trident I formed out of the ocean water. Nicholas's sword and my trident kept clanging when they hit, but he pushed down on me with his block so hard one time I resorted to kicking him in his soft spot and then throwing him across the beach with a wave of water.

Colin wasn't as almost easy. He was running towards my mom by the time I turned around and Leo was fighting him with the sea and his sword. I aimed an arrow at Colin but he flicked his hand and I was suddenly moving like a slow motion movie.

He'd slowed down time for me. I fought myself. In my head I was screaming, "water help, father help, time just speed up!" When, finally, the sea saved me by dousing my feet with water. Time resorted itself and I lunged at Colin, who was too close to my mom for my liking. He caused himself to speed up and Leo to slow down, and then, right before I hit him he hit my brother with the hilt of his sword and froze me in time.

My brother's nose was bleeding and blood was coming out of his mouth. He lay paralyzed in the tie as frozen as I was.

I broke out of his time spell a moment too late and stabbed Colin with my trident. I remember saying "Don't ever try to hurt my family," to him as I stabbed.

He smiled grotesquely at me. "Too late," he said and he dissipated into gold dust when he died that fell in the sea. I looked over to see Colin's sword jutting out of my mother's chest.

I'd been too late.

"Anna." Leo said, pulling me back to the present time.

"Sorry, "I said, "Uh, what exactly does this quest—"

"I will tell you when you return, my daughter, I promise," Poseidon said with his crinkle eyed smile. His eyes looked sad though, the sea churned softly in them. "For now, Anna, sweetie, Hermes will take you to Mount Olympus. Good luck, my daughter," he said, actually hugging me. Now I was really afraid of this quest. Usually he did the one armed hug thing or pat on the back. He hugged me tightly right now. Whattheheck? He never did that.

When Hermes, my partner-in-crime number one (Apollo being number two) came for me, I was baffled and he even looked surprised.

"Did he just hug you?" Hermes asked as he held my arm flying me to Olympus.

"Um, ya," I said, "I'm scared about that quest he's giving me when I get back now. He was just acting really weird."

"That's probably not good, Anna. Not a good sign."

"I know, Hermes. It worries me."

"Me too, kid, me too," He said, his eyebrows furrowing.

Now I was as scared as ever.


	3. Adriana New life

Chapter 3; Adriana

I was ninety-seven percent sure that he was a monster, the other three percent said, "Well maybe he was born with a deformity." He was my taxi cab driver to the Durfs and he didn't have any eyes. He had _an_ eye where his mouth should be.

How does he eat?

The question didn't matter because I was hesitating outside the passenger door. My hand rested lightly on the handle as my mind went over the possibilities.

I could slice his head off with my long bladed dagger.

I could choke him with my silver chain

I get into the car and wait for him to make the first move

"Are you going to ride or not?" A voice that could have been his asked. I did need a way to the house and honestly I was too tired to go Cabbie hunting in this crowded train station.

"Yeah, sorry." I plopped down on the seat. "You have really nice teeth." I tried not to smile myself at my little joke.

"Where to?" The voice sounded like it was coming from the steering wheel that he was gripping tightly.

How do other humans see him as? Does he look normal or do they just not look at his face out of some ancient magic? My cult and I discovered that humans—most of them that is—only see what they want to. If they saw everything then maybe they didn't' need to be so ignorant. Adults say that children are ignorant when they cry about the scary monsters under their beds when they are so much more on reality then the rest of the world is.

I read out the directions and awaited his attack.

"May I?" I reached timidly for the controller on the radio. His hand reached out to catch mine but I pulled away when my eyes looked onto his palm. Where there wasn't a small mouth—lips, teeth, tongue and all—there was something else.

Death.

He's been marked by my cult—I must kill him.

I fingered my own rose shaped ring that matched the mark on his hand. This ring, like its sisters, was made of black silver and tainted in god's blood. It was bewitched by Hecate and her daughters and dried by the lost suns that only Apollo has access to even though Artemis knows where they are and has been to the land. You can't find _that_ in your history textbook.

There are only three in existence. They bring no harm to humans—mortal beings, animals—everything but is engraved permanently by the rose shape.

Which one had done it? Emily maybe? Emily is the eldest and most aggressive of or cult. Maybe it had been Vikki. She may be young but she is manipulative and has a heart of rock just like mine. Hm. I wonder how this monster is enjoying being abandoned by everything immortal. The gods would help him if they cared enough but they don't. He is yet to feel the pain of the Black Rose.

Lucky for him the Black mark also prevents him from reappearing any time soon. Maybe in the next few decades he'll come back but his soul is being harmed as he drives the taxi—as the poison of the rose fills him.

"Have you driven my friends before?" I asked with my eyes on the passing buildings that caged me in with their huge shadows. Giants—the honorable kind. This is not my home. I do not fare well in cages and the same goes for cities—I love the country and the freedom of the unyielding horizon.

He grunted—I think. I knew better then to reveal their names to a monster. Once an immortal knows your face and name—your identity—the game is all over. You're dead.

"I see they couldn't kill you." I spoke like we were discussing the pretty clouds that were blood red with the sinking of Apollo's chariot—or that's what the old stories say, I'm not sure if I believe that there is a man in there.

It was a risky thing to do on my part. Emily would be very angry with me if she knew I was revealing my identity to a monster. I would have to kill him or he wouldn't stop until he killed me. I could do this for what ever made him bare the mark—for whatever he did to this innocent race of mortals.

The car slowed to a stop outside of a cute house with a big porch and one of those porch swings that could fit like three people at a time. There were potted plants on the steps and under the windows. I saw that there was a pick up truck with some logo for a construction company and there was a white minivan. I hated it. Luckily Vikki or Emily would be brining me my motorcycle, I wasn't riding around in one of those things.

The depressing house made me even more angry and ready to kick this guy's butt. I missed my rundown little foster home where no one cared if I didn't show up for dinner or for breakfast the next day. These surely will be the kind of people that will want me present at both so we can discuss our feelings and out outlook on the world which both, for me, are fairly dim.

I didn't move to leave just yet. I could hear the little _click_ in his brain as he pieced it all together. Click.

He turned around to look at me in the face. My eyes—something in them scared him like all of my other prey. These were eyes like a wolf—the lonely moon eyes.

Click.

He rounded on me but I was too quick to pull my dagger from my leather fur boots and drove it home into his chest. Gold dust exploded all around me like in a sand storm.

The cabbie and his car were gone, leaving me and my suitcases alone in the street with sand blowing around in the wind. Ew. Monster internals. I shook my leather jacket so that the gross sand stuff would slide off of me. I didn't need to smell like them too. They smelt so bad.

Ding, dong. It couldn't just be as simple as that. This house just _had_ to have a whole freaking song to go along with it.

Not only must there be a song but also the girl who answered the door made me sick. She was my age and blond. I hate blonds. She had that small little look about her with big blue gemstone eyes. Her eyelashes had _way_ too much black gunk on them and her cheeks were rosy from the cold that came from behind me—from inside me.

It might just help if she put on pants and a sweatshirt. It was March for crying out loud! You don't wear booty shorts and flimsy little t-shirts. The only decent thing she was wearing was her fuzzy pink slippers which matched the rest of her…pink.

She watched me too. We were sniffing each other out. What I hated, loved me. She smiled huge revealing a few dimples. Must she get anymore cutesy? I could just imagine her room. _Our room_. I'm supposed to share her _room_.

"You must be Mary!" The girl exclaimed happily. "Hah. Oh wait! That's me!" She made a joke, I should laugh. I tried my best and the girl's eyes glimmered with a new friendship on the way. If that's what floats her boat, what ever.

"I'm Adriana Lee." I extended my right hand formally. I wasn't allowing this pink fuzz ball to give me any kind of hug.

"Oh, Audrey—you're going to love it here!" Ma! Dad! She's here!" She shouted over her shoulder. "Come in, meet your parents!"

_Foster_ parents.

A boy about two years younger than I—possibly fourteen or fifteen—stood inside with his two blond parents. They were _all_ blond. It helped a little that the males of the house had brown eyes—more like puppy dogs, innocent—but still…I'm a brunette—I don't belong here.

"Hiyah. I'm Eleanor Gest." Okay so they aren't named the McDurfs but that's still how I think of them. Durffy, like Smurfs but pink and they don't wear sock hats. "This is my husband Jim." She placed a pink manicured hand on the man wearing paint splattered pants and a big smile.

"Brian, but most just call me by my last name." His eyes grazed over me like most boys' do. I faked a smile for this country family living in the middle of a crowded city.

"You're so cute!" Eleanor grabbed me into one big pink hug.

"Thanks." I awkwardly slithered out of her arms.

"You must be tired." Jim said sympathetically or he was feeling awkward at the long stretch of silence as we stared at each other—pink and silver assessing each other.

"I am actually." I laughed to the best of my ability.

"You can rest in my room once we give you the GRAND TOUR!" Mary made large gestures with her arms.

"Sounds great." Inside I whimpered, it really sounded everything but.

I wish sometimes that monsters were as easy to figure out as humans. I basically had Mary's whole life story down by the time I was finished with the 'Grand Tour'. I wondered if she knew that she still didn't know anything about me yet. Humans liked that—knowing you as what they want you to be. To them I'm not a sly silver serial killer—to them I'm just as pink as the rest of them.

The tour ended in Mary's room. And guess what! I was right. I almost ran out of her little room screaming for my dark, crowded room that I used to live in. Or maybe that park bench with the hobo asleep on the news papers looked better then this. I wondered if that guy would be okay with me sharing his bench.

Her room is pink.

Oh, no, pink is an understatement. Her room is _pink_. The walls, the feathery pillows that decorated the pink arm chair and the twin pink beds—it was all pink! Her curtains, floor, desk and door were white. She didn't have closet doors, no, she had beaded curtains that were—you guessed it—pink. I felt like Strawberry Shortcake barfed on this room.

Pink.

She gestured to her room with a proud smile. Eleanor and Jim put my suitcases on the bed next to the window.

Good.

"What do you have in here? Rocks?" Jim asked jokingly. He was close. All of my weapons and emergency equipment was in that suitcase he held in his right hand. The other two were for clothes. I'm still a girl even if I'm not the typical waving-my-pompoms-in-your-face girl. I liked clothes. It beat the alternative.

"Shoes." I shrugged. Mary looked even happier if that was possible. She looked like that her smile might get too big for her face and explode. That mental image was looking really nice to me right now.

"You girls don't need any help unpacking?" Eleanor asked hopefully to get to know me better. She won't know anymore then she knows of me now. They'll think I'm perfect then I'll burn down the library and they can only look on and ask 'why', they won't know me.

Mary smiled again and waved her hand dismissively. "No thanks mom, we'll be fine."

She smiled sincerely at both of us. "Don't stay up too late, you have school tomorrow."

_My_ sixth, first day of school. Eck.

"Sure thing mom."

Eleanor left the room leaving me and Mary to get acquainted. For a brief second I was more afraid of this pink girl then any monster, god, demigod or sorceress.

"So you said shoes?" Mary asked happily and skipped over to my suitcase with my clothes is it. She surprised me by un-zippering the weapon bag instead. I darted to her and plopped my hands down on the suit case possessively. She looked baffled for a few seconds then got over my behavior.

And I thought this would be awkward.

"Emily, how's it up there?" I whispered into my phone. Mary, as well as everyone else, was asleep. My window was open as I dangled my legs over the ledge two stories above the ground. I didn't have to hold onto the ledge as I whispered into the phone because my balance was perfect.

Em and Vikki would be on their night watch now.

"Pretty boring. I think we've wiped 'em out. Doesn't mean we wouldn't love to have you back boss." I waited patiently until Emily's voice spoke again. I could imagine the way the girls would be sitting. Weapons ready, as a shadow passed.

I stared into the bushes intently like I was on my own hunt. There wasn't anything immortal for miles. I think. It was hard to tell because my usually perfect senses felt stuffed up like I had a cold. Just incase, I had a dagger on the window sill next to me.

"False alert." Vikki breathed and I could hear it because that is just how silent they are—we have to be.

"So how are you handling things? Kill anyone yet?"

"I took down some weird Cabbie guy. One of you marked him so I killed 'em." It was hardly anything worth a gold star.

"Oh yeah. He charged me ten extra bucks for my ride. He said that there is a rush rate and I told him I'll give him a rush rate." She can get so aggressive sometimes. I could see her doing just that as her anger and frustration boiled over. Every gang needs someone like Emily but you also need some one like Vikki to calm her down when Emily gets _too_ angry.

"_That's_ why you marked him?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Idiot." I muttered away from the phone but she would have heard it regardless. My eyes were still trained on that spot in the bushes. I had the weirdest impulse to hop down and just run a perimeter check. I was just so…worthless right now.

The thin layer of snow that had fallen on the ground only an hour or so ago caught the moon's light and reflected it back so that each individual ice crystal looked like diamond. I knew that my hair did something quite similar to the snow and my eyes would match the full moon tonight.

"So, uh, how is the family?"

"Pink." The word was like a drop of sour concentrate on my tongue.

"Hey whatchya gonna do?"

"Hope that she doesn't try to get into my weapons bag again." I answered even though her question was rhetorical.

"Awh, she didn't." Em groaned.

"Almost."

"Rotten luck Adriana."

"You're telling me. Just imagine what I would have had to do if she knew what I was. I don't like killing innocents."

"You and me both. Mmm. Oh yeah. Vic and I think that it would be best for you to keep a log of what you encounter—kills, emotions, findings—you know, since we aren't there and you're so close to the entrance, if anything were to happen we could pick back up where you left off."

"Thanks. I'll start one once I get a notebook to keep it in."

"Hope that's soon. Aye! I got to go—good luck at school tomorrow! I'll bring you your bike by tomorrow morning!" The phone went dead after a few good swear words and some yowling from the other end.

They are doing what I am alive for while I'm safe on a window wondering if patrol duty would be worthless. I'm doing absolutely nothing really. Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a new day and there will be more things to kill. I'll have my bike so I can sneak out and won't be bound to this house when the moon comes up. My favorite time of day—the end of it.

By tomorrow night I'll have this window open again but I'll be on the ground and running to my bike. I craved the adrenaline the speed of my bike brought me when I raced after a monster. My steel horse.

The Gest family will be the safest family for the surrounding hundred miles. This town will be wiped clean and I'll be moving on my way to the next one. I liked that thought—not being here anymore.

I looked at the bushes one last time before deciding to go back inside. I swung my legs into the room and dropped down without a sound. I gripped my knife and closed the window and put the screen back in place. Who would be watching this house anyway? No one important lived here.


	4. Anakeyla Quest

Chapter 4; Annakeyla

"Pull it up just a little higher, sweetheart," Artemis said as I had my bow and arrow pulled up, ready to shoot and hit the target. All the other arrows had landed in the 9 points region (one landed in the 8) and I was determined to get a 10.

Snap, release, THWAP! Was the sound the arrow made when I shot it. A perfect 10!

"Oh ya! Beat that suckas!" I said jokingly to my three demigod friends, Kara, daughter of Zeus, Travis, son of Apollo and Alec, son of Hermes. Artemis hugged me as I told her thank you; and her long silvery blonde hair tickled my shoulders.

"Already am sucka!" Alec mocked me when I looked over. He was about to shoot his last arrow. Artemis winked at me and I ran over and shoved him as he released the arrow.

"And... now you're not," I said as he completely missed because I shoved him. Artemis was hiding a smile and stifling a laugh, as Apollo, too, smirked and rolled his eyes as he watched us from behind.

"That would be cheating," Alec said with a smirk to me, "_Ustolo_," he said, causing a water balloon to appear. I loved some of the powers we demigods got, like being able to perform some of the same cool things like the gods by saying the Latin word and thinking it, though we were limited of course. Some demigods, like Alec, should never have been taught any of them though.

I started running from Alec and his freezing cold water balloons. I tried to throw them off, you know, with my Poseidon water powers, but still ended up getting hit by a lot of them. I chucked some I made back at him. I loved learning all the tricks we can do from Athena, but there were some tricks Alec should never have been taught. I mean his dad was the god of thieves and was very mischievous and all, so how do you think Alec was? Go figure—he's the same way.

When I was running past Kara who was shooting her last arrow she said so only I could hear "Fuh-lirt alert," all mockingly to me. I stuck my tongue out at her and threw another water balloon at Alec, which hit him in the face.

"Oh, sorry!" I said, putting my hand up to my mouth. I ran over to him to see if he was okay.

"I'm sorry! I didn't get you in the eyes or anything did I?" I said.

"Just give me a sec," he grunted.

I bit my lip from laughing at his grunting voice. This kid totally like just went through puberty. He definitely never sounded like that before.

Suddenly I felt ice cold water dripping down my back and saw Alec grinning triumphantly at me, holding a hose. I screamed because now my back felt like it was turned to ice and redirected the water at him saying, "I hate you!" through my laughs and screams. That was so a lie though, and it was pretty damn obvious, yet Alec still didn't get it. Guys are completely oblivious, I tell ya.

"Okay Romeo and Juliet," Kara said, coming over after she shot a 10 that was only about a millimeter off of dead center.

"Shut up," Alec and I said together, sitting down in the lounge chairs next to Kara. Travis came over and told us how he got perfect 10's the whole time. Kara beat me to whapping him on the back of the head.

"Anyway," Kara said with an eye roll and smile which disappeared as soon as she brought up this subject, "About your quest."

Oh, great. I love Kara, and she is my best friend (and cousin), but she should know when I don't wanna talk about something. And my stupid unknown quest is definitely one of those things.

Kara was a daughter of Zeus, and was an all-around athlete. She was a blonde, but far from the stereotypical 'Like, ohemgee, I need a manicure!' pink-loving blondes. She was a snowboarder, soccer player and gymnast. She did the crazy flips in the air like Olympian snowboarder Shaun White (who is by the way a descendant of Zeus, though I have know clue if he knows that or not. He's like Zeus's great-great-great-grandson or something like that). She could flip higher in the air than anyone in gymnastics (partly because her dad is the Lord of the Sky and she can manipulate the air, but I didn't just tell you that), and during soccer, nothing could get past her to the goal. She's training for the Summer Olympics right now, with me a little too, since I'm training for the Freestyle Medley relay for swimming and any other freestyle swim races I can get in the Olympics, but she's training to be an Olympic Gymnast on the U.S. Gymnastics team, but she vowed not to use her powers to win. She wanted an honest win. That was Kara's way—unless you pissed her off. Then she could shock you with lightning. She can't smote you like her dad can, but she can definitely cause some permanent damage if you piss her off too much. She always wears her black and lime green sweatpants or shorts, a white v-neck shirt (always with the American Eagle symbol, since Zeus's sign is the eagle) and her thousand of different colored Nike Sweatshirts (since Nike is the Goddess of Victory). She had eyes that almost literally gave off an electric vibe, they were light yellow/blue-ish(depending on her mood), like the lightning of a thunderstorm.

I sighed. "Ugh. What about my stupid quest that will probably involve an actual Titan?" I said, trying to laugh about it. Being nervous is not one of my usual characteristics, but this quest that everyone was talking about for me was giving me a bad feeling. Like it was going to be _really_ really difficult or deadly or something.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Funny, Water Woman. No, it doesn't. But it's not gonna be easy. And what's worse is that we only have partial info on it. My dad says it's 'not something I should worry about'," Kara said, mocking her father's voice. One of these days, our dads are going to smote us to Hades. We are so terrible to them.

"Great," I said sourly. "So what've you guys got on it?"

I watched Kara exchange nervous glances with Travis and Alec.

I raised a questioning eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

"Um," Kara said, looking over at Apollo, Artemis and Hermes who were talking amongst themselves on the other side of the archery field. "How 'bout we go over by the pool?" she said.

I could see that she did not want them to overhear us talking about this, which meant that Alec must've found a way for them to spy on Zeus and Poseidon's conversations about it. It surprises me that the gods haven't smoted all of us, come to think of it.

"It has to do with the Artemis possibly being un-virgin problem. That's the biggest info we got," Kara said once we were in the pool room. Olympus had everything I promise you. And it was all done in amazing architectural styles with combinations of all three types of columns and statues of all and every god, goddess, demigod, demigoddess, hero, etc. Plus, everything was state of the art top of the line. Like this pool for instance. It was like three pools combined: one for laps, one with a waterfall running into it that was for relaxing, and one fore fun, normal but huge and with three different heights of diving boards, a water slide and beach balls all over.

"Oh gods," I said in regards to the quest.

I knew very little about the Artemis problem. Nobody knew the exact story. It was top secret, yet it involved too many of the Olympian gods to count. None of them would comment on the matter; not even Aphrodite which was extremely surprising, since she usually dished out all the good gossip.

From what I know, Artemis was rumored to have had a child with Hermes's other older demigod son, Lucas. So if you're really bad at Greek 'mythology', then you wouldn't know that Artemis had told her father that she wanted to be a virgin, unmarried, young and free, forever. And so Zeus granted her that wish because Artemis was always a daddy's girl. So you can see why Zeus might be upset about this.

Anyway, Zeus had Poseidon sink the ship that the poor (and innocent, according to Artemis herself, who I completely believe) Lucas was on. He also made Poseidon cause Hurricane Katrina, because that's where this was rumored to have all gone down and where Artemis 'fell in love' with Lucas. I swear that Zeus doesn't know his own daughter. My dad did all this with a heavy heart (though he tried to seem proud and all about it, he had an armored heart like mine, never showing true emotions), but had to do what Zeus told him, because he's already sort of on Zeus's bad side. He chained him up one time a long time ago and made him agree to be a better ruler of the gods, blah, blah, so Zeus is now always a little more cautious, wary and demanding of his brother. But I can honestly tell you that my dad didn't appreciate drowning all those innocent people to please his brother. I'd be dead if I ever said it aloud, but the gods take their vengeance out on the mortals a little too much.

So if my quest had to do with that whole mess of drama that happened when I was like 8, then it was gonna be harder than I even anticipated or could imagine. Because then I could be used. Not that I already wasn't sometimes, but this time I mean really used. And I wouldn't betray Artemis to please Zeus.

"I know what you're thinking," Kara said, "I know you're thinking about trying to find a way out of it."

"Finding a way out of it is an understatement of what I want to do Kara. I mean, you're dad made my dad cause Hurricane Katrina over this! Do you really think I wanna be involved in something that totally goes against what and who I'm for?! I'm on Artemis's side, you know this," I said heatedly, "And they are really going to ask me for my help after I'd begged my father to not listen to Zeus and not slaughter all those innocent people in New Orleans for no good reason! I will not do anything to aid your father in seeking vengeance over something that isn't what he thinks!" I practically shouted, fuming as I walked over to the laps pool. I touched the locker with my name Annakeyla on it in Greek writing style in the color blue and was changed into my Nike zebra diving swimsuit. I jumped in the water, ignoring my friends worried stares and sighed, sitting at the bottom of the pool for at lest ten minutes.

I was fuming. I couldn't believe that my dad was letting Zeus push him around like this and trying to drag me—and my brother—into this mess. He knows I'm on Artemis's side for gods and goddess's sake! And as much as Zeus used to like me, at the moment he isn't speaking to Artemis or me. That ticks us off even more.

Ya, I know the true story of what happened vaguely too. Artemis didn't give me all the details, because she's not like that, but she gave me the basics of what I need to know. That she had Aphrodite, Hecate and Athena involved to help take her eggs and fertilize them in some pea tree dish type thing. I was never great with science words, though I seemed pretty good at science, sorry.

"ANNA!" I heard Travis yell at the top of his lungs. No, I had not been ignoring my friends for the past ten minutes. Alright maybe I have, but it was for their own good so I wouldn't lash out on them. I tended to do that when I was really pissed off.

Popping out of the water, leaving my hair and face dry since I'd forgotten to take of my makeup and I didn't want to have to fix my hair (yes, I could do this, demigoddess daughter of Poseidon here), I looked up at my friends with my 'what the eff do you want?' look.

"Don't give us that," Travis said with an eye roll.

"What do you want?" I groaned.

"We're trying to help you," Kara said.

"Just what?" I said in annoyance, gritting my teeth.

"I have a quest to the Underworld. I'm going with my dad," Travis said slowly, looking at me like somehow that statement should explain itself to me.

"Great for you. Have fun," I said with no emotion in my voice.

"Anna, listen. So Artemis's daughter was rumored to kill some deformed person the other day, right?"

"Uh-huh," I said, drying the rest of me off by using a flick of my hand and muttering the Latin word for dry.

"Well, I could talk to him in the Underworld. He might have some details or something."

I snorted. "Thanks," I said, "But you don't have to do that. I'll probably be in the middle of my quest before you go. Thanks though guys. I'll just suffer on my own?" The last sentence turned into a question when I saw Artemis, Apollo and Hermes standing by the entrance to the pool room.

"Nobody's mad," Artemis said in regards to my last question. The scowl on her face could've fooled me.

"Could've fooled me," I accidentally said out loud, popping my hand over my mouth as soon as I said it and then grinning innocently at my favorite gods and goddess.

Artemis smiled. "Truly, sweetheart, we're not mad. Well, at you anyway. My father on the other hand..." she said, trailing off into thought and her scowl returning.

"I'm sorry!" Hermes yelled.

"Now did she blame you?" Apollo said.

"It is my fault, though. I told Dad. I didn't know everything, and I told dad that Aphrodite was pregnant with Artemis's kid."

"No it's not," Artemis said, "Dad just flipped out. He didn't know all the facts either, he just freaked out, as usual. His stupid temper tends to blind him. It's not your fault so cut it out. You would know if I was mad at you, believe me," Artemis said with her eyebrows raised. "Anyway. Anna. Your quest your father is going to force you into. I will help you when needed. You know I will. This is my daughter you're dealing with. You have to befriend her. Simple as it sounds, it will prove to be uneasy. But I will help you. The only reason I support this quest is because it could prove that I am innocent to my father's eyes. I believe that is the only reason you're father agreed to it so easily, also. You'd be a good friend to my daughter, Anna, so please. Try. For me. I know you were against it for my sake, but this could help me. And you, too. If you succeed, your father might be able to get Zeus to find a way to bring your mother back."

I looked at her with disbelief. Sure, everything she'd said before the last sentence was encouraging and all.

But the idea of my mother being able to come back? That was a dream come true. I missed my mother. There were times I needed her and I was left with no one. I wanted her to help me again. To show me the right way to do things, to watch the sappy teen love movies with me, to tell me I was a great person, to tell me I could do the right thing, to help me do my best in school (though Athena did that well).

I was trying to tell myself there were many reasons why I now agreed to this quest when my dad asked Leo and I back at his palace. However, I knew the main and real reason.

My mother

"Pippy Longstocking," my brother called me as we grabbed our stuff to go on a trip with my dad and Artemis to see Artemis's daughter I had to befriend. He called me this because when I was a little kid, I always wore my hair in braids on the sides of my head, like a Pippy Longstocking with blonde hair.

I whirled around with my sword pointed to my brother's throat. "What did you just call me, Fish Breath?" Kind of a weird insult, since I was a Poseidon person too, but this was how my brother and I did things.

Some of the fish swimming by looked hurt. Oops.

"Hey, just messing with my brother," I told them, "You guys are cool."

They smiled weakly at me.

"You heard me. And genius move with the fish back there," Leo snickered.

"_Imbecillus_," I mutter as I picked up my Sapphire gemstone necklace Aphrodite had given me., She said it brought out my eye color, but Aphrodite isn't as blonde as you all may think. She also gave it to me because it improves your overall well being, and mine has been pretty unstable lately.

"What was that, Annakeyla?" My father said sternly as he came in with Artemis.

"Bust-ed," Leo whispered to me with this huge cocky grin on his face.

I smirked. "Not quite," I whispered back. Two can play at this game, cocky brother. And for the record, I tend to win.

"Nothing, Daddy, sorry, just practicing some of the new spells and stuff Hecate and Athena taught me," I said normally, not giving anything away or even sounding like I was lying. After all, I had learned from Hermes, the god of thieves. Thieves generally had to be good liars.

He looked at me and nodded slowly. "Very well then. We should be off. I shall show you your new apartment in New York City after we show you Adriana Lee."

"Okay," I said. Artemis grinned at me when my dad turned around muttering "Nice," to me and trying not to laugh at Leo's shocked face.

"Take that, sucka," I told him turning on the heels of my new Nikes. They were lime green, orange, and neon blue. They were great for track too. I ran sometimes, but not for the track team. I was a total swimmer sports wise, but I generally tend to do a little bit of everything. Plus my Nikes were awesome in combat. I could spin, flip, jump, kick, whatever.

"You're evil, truly evil," Leo said to me.

"Ya, ya," I said, "Let's go, I wanna sleep."

"You always wanna sleep. You practically hibernate."

"Oh well excuse me for not being freaking nocturnal."

"You're excused," he said with a grin. My brother had a real talent for getting on my nerves.

"Shut. Up."

"I'm surprised you didn't say that in Latin, you usually say everything in Latin."

"Ohmygodsandgoddesses!" I yelled, "Artemis, Dad, let's go now, please, for the love of the gods!"

Leo laughed as I glared at him and we disappeared into the night and out of the sea.

_Pop!_

The air made a little popping sound as Artemis, Poseidon, Leo and I appeared in a tree next to a very dressed up, frilly looking house. It was a light baby blue with white cutesy shutters. It was huge though, with a pool and everything. I'd kill to dive in that right now.

"Uh, this is not New York City," I said to them.

"Anna, shhh!" Artemis said.

"Oh sorry," I whispered, "Where are we exactly?"

"The Bronx," my dad said to me, "I would really like to kill that person who just threw his McDonald's cup in the bay," he growled, looking across the street at the sidewalk on the bay.

"Don't," Artemis, Leo and I all said at once.

"I wasn't actually planning on killing him, I was just saying," Poseidon said. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Anyway," he said severely in regards to my look, "This is—

"—Adriana's house. Well, she lives here with her foster family," Artemis said. Poseidon gave her a nasty look which she promptly returned and said "My daughter, I get to tell."

"Very well," Poseidon sighed angrily. His sea eyes turned a darker blue and I could see that the ocean in his irises started to get rougher with his anger. While Zeus's temper was worse than my dad's, sometimes I questioned that fact with how mad my dad go over virtually nothing.

"She's very... er, punk like so to speak. She has a motorcycle. Hates pink. Very into—oh, sh, she's on the window ledge!" Artemis gasped, ducking down and forcing the rest of us to.

I looked up at the ledge of the window. I pulled out my phone and saw that it was 2 o'clock in the morning. Gods, how and why was this girl awake? She must be crazy or something.

I watched her hang up her cell phone and place something silver on the window sill—a silver sharp bladed knife. I looked at her and I had to keep myself from gasping at the similarities between her and Artemis.

She had sliver-blonde long hair just like Artemis. Almost the same moon colored eyes, except hers weren't as bright and shiny as Artemis's were. She had the same pale features and kind face, though hers look scarred with sadness, but mostly hidden with anger—no doubt from what had happened to her family. She wore black skinny jeans and a silver tee-shirt with a black sweatshirt over it to help conceal her in the night's darkness. I saw a black rose ring on her finger. It was very beautiful, but something about it made me fear it.

I looked at Artemis who smiled weakly at me and I knew for sure that was Artemis's daughter. I watched Leo get a good look at her and he said "Oh shit," in a pretty loud whisper.

"Shut it!" I hissed as Poseidon and Artemis looked uncomfortable at his comment.

"What?" I asked in a whisper. Both Olympians shook their heads at me. I scowled and looked at Leo hopefully, knowing my chances were slim at getting information out of my brother but she said softly "I'll tell you later."

I raised my eyebrows and was about to say thanks when my dad said. "Now you know her. But we must get to your apartment now. You start school on Monday which means you have one day to get settled."

We were about to disappear when Adriana's eyes accidentally met mine. My eye's widened and I mouthed something like "Uh, hi, sorry!" right before we disappeared into the night again, bound for our new apartment.


	5. Adriana School

Chapter 5; Adriana

"This is going to be great! I've never had anyone walk with me to the bus stop before! Well other then Brian but he's usually with one of his friends or something. You'll love my school! I just know that everyone will love you too! My friends are so nice, they'll be really nice to you. There are a lot of cute boys there to, and you're really pretty so I'm guessing you'll have a boy friend in no time. I had a boy friend but then we broke up because we were looking for different things in the relationship." She looked sheepish then her chatter caught up again. "Any way it will be so great to have you here! A sister!"

"Thanks Mary." I cleared my plate of the left over eggs that I didn't eat. I hate when people put ketchup on eggs—it just doesn't taste right.

Hopefully I won't even be taking the bus this morning. "Oh, shoot. We'll be late if we don't go now!" She tugged at my hand as I slowly grabbed my bag and patted my boots to make sure that there still was a hard lump there. My silver blade was safe.

"Are there metal detectors at your school?" I asked holding back the groan that was forming in the back of my throat. I wasn't good with technology. I didn't know how I would explain my knife either. I would be on 'special watch' again.

"No…? Why would we need them?" She smiled reassuringly. "No one is going to try and kill you. This is one of the safer schools in the area. There are some gangs around but they don't show up at school much. You'll survive."

"Yeah." I laughed because they wouldn't be killing me—I'll be killing them if they lay a hand on me. I always survive.

"You really like silver don't you?" She asked me when she pushed the door open to the cool March breeze. I could see why she would think that I like silver. I was wearing a silver belt that doubled as a long chain that I could fight with. My black leather jacket had silver threads entwined with the black fabric. Of course I wore my black silver ring and the bottom of my boots there was a flash of silver. Steel toed boots was one thing but the whole bottom of my boots made all of my kicks harder.

"I guess you can say that." I snickered to myself.

"Did you know—your eyes and hair are like silver? It's really pretty." I knew that already. Even though my hair was brown it did have a weird silvery kind of ting to it. I always loved my hair. I let it grow long because it was one of the only things that were dependent. I didn't need to straighten it—ever. My hair loved me. It was always silky smooth and it flowed just like sunlight. There wasn't ever a hair out of place not only because I kept it up in a pony tail when I was going into new territory. Which I was definitely doing today.

"Thanks. I've always wanted to be a blond though." I lied but wanted to give her a compliment since it was fair that she gave me one.

"Oh, don't do that, your hair is far too pretty to be dyed."

I smiled at her. "I wasn't going to dye it." My voice was absent because my eyes locked on my baby.

My most prized procession. I paid for it all by myself—kind of. This brand new, never has been used, bike was in a used car dealership when I was looking for my car. I saw it and instantly knew that I couldn't afford it. I just wanted to touch it. It was automatic—I knew—I _needed_ to have this bike. It goes up to two-hundred and twenty miles per hour and it's the sleekest bike I've ever seen.

It's a Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R I knew the title by heart because when the owner saw my interest he rushed over and told me what it was called and I fell in love. It was clad in black and dark indigo and silver.

_"You have fine taste."_

_"Ah, how much?"_

It looked like it would be about fifteen thousand but he surprised me with his answer. Which was even more surprising since that was exactly how much money I had in my pocket to pay for it.

_"Eight thousand."_

The man was professional looking but something about him made me want to give him a huge hug. He had a bright smile and he was wearing an expensive suit. His eyes were golden like the sun and he watched me with a sentimental look.

_"You're joking? This?!"_

_"Yep. It's a little funky so…"_

_"How does it ride?"_

_"How about you try it out." _The man had tossed me the keys and that was the best drive of my life. The motorcycle had nothing wrong with it, I mean it's been a year and it still works perfectly. It hardly ever needs gas even though I use it all of the time and I keep it in perfect condition.

The look on my foster parents at the time was priceless when I brought this beauty home. Actually it was something like how Mary was looking at it.

"Holy…is that _yours_?"

"Want a lift to school?" I stroked the side of the silver finish with pure love. I missed this thing so much.

"There is only one helmet." She objected with a distant voice. Her eyes were stuck on the pretty bike. By now Brian and Jim were both outside and staring at my machine with huge eyes.

"Uh…um…I have a helmet...it's old…er…it's red so it'll match the…blue…" Jim sounded like he was having difficulty talking.

"Really dad?! I can use it?" She gave Jim a huge hug and ran into the garage. She was running out a few seconds later with an old red helmet just like Jim had promised.

"I call riding with Audrey tomorrow." Brian said with awe.

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face even though I wasn't planning on driving anyone again. I just needed to have Mary ride the bike with me today for security reasons. I wouldn't go off alone until I had the area scoped out.

I picked up my indigo helmet with silver designs on it. I put it on and fastened the hook under my chin. I opened the little eye window to watch as Mary had to get help with hers. Jim's fingers kept trembling when he tied the old harness together.

My helmet had come free with the motorcycle. The guy said it was a gift from a friend. When I got home I looked up the motorcycle and helmet up online. The motorcycle should have cost twelve thousand dollars and the helmet was almost six hundred dollars. Used car places don't give away six hundred dollar helmets. I didn't care because I loved it. I thanked my lucky stars that I got my hands on this one before anyone else.

"I thought we would be late." I said impatiently. My motorcycle was purring. Brian looked like he was about to lick it and I didn't want boy germs on my pretty.

"Yeah, yeah but this thing looks like it can go fast." Mary smiled and climbed on the back of the bike. She gripped my midsection for dear life.

"Be safe!" Eleanor yelled as I revved up the bike and slammed down on the gas. We were off faster then Mary has ever traveled in her life. She screamed with exhilaration. I laughed because I did the same thing often.

"Ohmygosh!" She yelled. The air felt amazing as it whipped past us. I saw the big bus that we would have been taking and drove up next to it so that Mary could have the pleasure of waving at the windows. Noses were pressed up to the windows as they tried to get a good look at the two girls on the hot motorcycle.

We beat the bus to school. Many of the cars on the road looked pissed at us as I maneuvered around them slyly. Mary was silent in the back even though any mortal would be terrified with my driving.

The student lot was filled with a few really nice looking cars and a few really crappy kinds like at my old school. I parked mine in one of the spots right in front. My bike looked so good there next to the cars. Could you believe that there weren't any other motorcycles anywhere in sight?

Mary got off of the bike laughing. The purr quieted when I turned it off and took the keys out of ignition. The students who took pride in standing out in the parking lot before class all watched the bike with open awe. A bunch of Mary's friends rushed over and started asking her questions about the ride.

I removed my helmet ignoring all of the bystanders. I slicked my hair back but I didn't need to, my hair never looked bad. I buckled Mary's helmet on the handle bars. I knew that no one would steel it. It wasn't really worth the effort, this thing is a dinosaur. I barely noticed that Mary's friends had gone quiet when my helmet was removed. I went on with my business, grabbing my bag from the storage compartment then walking off to the main office to get my schedule for the day with my bag slung over my shoulder and my helmet balanced on my hip.

"Hey I'm Adriana Lee." I informed the balding guy at the desk seated in front of the room marked 'Principal Mark'. He looked me over and I saw the way his eyes gave a small pop. I wonder if he was noticing how good looking I was or if he was seeing the badass Adriana.

"Ms. Lee. Yes." He shuffled through some papers hurriedly and handed me a paper-clipped stack. "This is your locker number, the map of the school, your schedule, lunch information and upcoming events. Your classes are highlighted on the map." He pointed to the top paper in my hand. I also highlighted the best route to each."

This guy has way too much time on his hands.

I thanked him and headed for locker B-45, my first stop on the never ending first day of school. It was just like school number five all over again. People stared at me and my helmet. There were whispers all starting with the same two words, "I heard" fill in blank here. _I heard she was expelled from twelve schools. I heard she's been arrested. I heard that even her parents don't want her. I heard she dates every guy with a pulse. I heard she's good._ Some of those are lies some are true. I don't date, so it's easy to decide which are only gossip.

To my disappointment the lockers here aren't nearly large enough to fit a motorcycle helmet. I would have difficulty fitting my math text book in here. That's an over statement. I could get all of my books in but my leather jacket would have to stay on my shoulders today. There wasn't much room to keep a jacket in the lockers without having the jacket get wrinkled or harmed.

I had calc first with Joan Sunkes then AP English with Dr. Stone. I never liked English and I don't know how I ended up in AP English. I guess I just found it easy and boring. Anyone can read a book at talk about 'how the author depicted the characters in a strong way'. Maybe Joan would let me keep my helmet in her class.

I walked up to an older woman with graying hair and crows feet. Her eyes were a soft brown—kind of grandmotherly. The way kids looked at her I assumed that she was mean but if you really looked deep into those mud brown eyes they were warm and reminded me of the chocolate chips that I used to put in cookies.

"Heyah. Do you mind if I leave this here for today?" I asked in my nicest voice—something I didn't really use that much.

Joan looked up from her papers that she was marking with purple pen. Her grandmotherly face looked confused for a few moments. She must have not understood who I was until she put it together.

"Adriana Lee?" She asked. "Yes, yes. My dear you can put it in the back of the room." She pointed the way with an old shaky hand.

"Thank you." I placed my helmet next to a big stack of papers with the same purple markings on it.

I sat in the back of the room so I could observe all that goes on in the class. That and it's harder to stare at someone who is behind you. A strawberry blond with a well developed chest and a herd of boys around her sat in front of me. Her loose curls trailed on to the end of my desk. She finished a conversation with a dark boy with big tree bark colored eyes. He smiled a lot and she twirled her hair around her finger innocently.

"Audrey?" She asked me in a curious bored voice. Her chin was only slightly turned in my direction so that I knew who she was talking to.

"Informally." I said coolly.

"I'm Misty." She said like she half expected me already to know that. I didn't nor did I care. "You're the girl staying with Mary. I saw you on that bike."

"Yes." I really didn't want to talk to her right now but I couldn't refuse—the entire calc room was watching us.

She is a nymph.

I didn't care. She's harmless and the world could always use more nymphs—good ones—if I caught her doing anything bad I would kill her. If she annoyed me enough I would kill her. I hid my right hand from sight so she wouldn't notice my little rose ring. Even the good kind would surely want me dead if they knew who I was.

"I'm sure you don't have any friends yet so I'll allow you to sit with me today." She smiled a pair of white teeth that only nymphs had.

"Gee." I said without turning to look at her now that her misty colored eyes were on me.

"Unless you have somewhere better to be."

I moved my eyes up to her gaze that was relentless. This nymph wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Oh." She sounded surprised and angry at the look of me. I've never really gotten that reaction. "I didn't realize that…" She stared at me with total fascination. I felt like I was under a big microscope being observed and 'Misty' was the scientist. "Aren't you just adorable." She gushed. She acted like I was the petty mean girl in charge of the school and she was the new girl that needed a leader to get her through this.

"Uh-huh." I looked down at the desk willing her to go away or I would shoot her right now.

"Class we have a new student." Joan said after the high pitched bell sounded for first block. The announcements don't come on until second block—that's what Mary told me. "This is Adriana Lee. Make her welcome."

People turned away and I met each eye with cold certainty. All of the eyes that were human looked down at the floor once they met my gaze. Even the nymph named Misty looked down. A delicate shudder rippled through her when she turned around to face Joan for the lesson.

I sighed and took out the note book that I had been using in my last school for math class. It was a senior class. Calc. I don't like math but it let's my logical working mind really wander and think. I'm good at thinking and problem solving so I was accelerated in Junior high. Now I regretted burning down the library because we were learning things that in my last school we haven't even touched on yet. If I have to get a tutor my life will be over.

My back wasn't straight but I had my legs positioned the exact way that, if I had to, I could quickly stand up. I listened to Joan as she lectured us on the importance of order of operations. I played with my pencil, imagining all the possible ways I could kill someone with the tiny piece of wood.

I placed the pencil back in the little grove of the desk and saw that part of Misty's skin was revealed through her thick blond hair. I stared at the little revealed part. My goal was to give her that apprehensive feel where the hair on her arms sticks up and all of her rational mind screams danger. I kind of wished that I could see her deer-in-the-headlights panic that I knew that she was feeling from the intensity of my stare.

I should have known my own luck. I should have noticed that Mrs. Sunk's eyes kept wandering to the door every now and then or to the empty seat across from me. I was too caught up with my attention on making Misty suffer to notice any of the vital signs.

As a cougar I am always watching—anticipating—but I just didn't read the signs. They were so obvious and I just couldn't read. I wasn't taken off guard when the door opened however.

I am never taken off guard.

Everyone, apart from me, turned around to see the new classmate. I didn't hear clicks like girls' high heels. The foot steps were near close to silent. Several eyes glazed over and the aura of power crashed into me from behind.

First my hand slipped between my legs concealing my ring and with the right hand I gripped my dagger that was in my boot. I didn't like that the foot steps stopped behind me. They were on my blind side. They were probably afraid. _Poor baby_.

"Annakeyla Castillo?" Mrs. Sunks acknowledged the girl, with a tight face. The origin and meaning of the name fluttered through my mind as I listened to her voice trying to place her. Anna—that part was obvious—little goddess. Then the Keyla part meant, beach. Her voice gave her away if her name didn't. Her voice was languid and flowed easily. If a still ocean during sunset could talk it would sound just like this girl.

"Ya, sorry." I wasn't listening anymore. I'll bet that _he_ would be very angry if I killed his little servant. I felt closer to killing the king of the sea then ever. I would have smiled if I was okay with people—humans—being afraid of me. Wait, I am fine with that. My smile must have been really nasty because guess what!

She's blond.

"Not a problem, dear, take a seat over there." Joan looked at the slip that Annakeyla gave her. The girl turned around so I could see her full profile.

Her eyes were blue like a calm sea. There weren't any waves breaking her perfectly composed face. She had a swimmer's body and a few freckles that were sprinkled on her creamy skin. She wore white skinny jeans and big furry boots like many of the girls in New York wore.

"Okay." Her voice was meticulous.

I tried to act human because something about just how calm and collected she was made me think that she was acting. I've been lying my whole life so I knew when some one was. I watched her face steadily trying to raise goose flesh on her arms like I did with Misty. She ignored me but judging by her body language she revealed as she walked to the seat that Joan was instructing her to sit in she was aware of my death stare.

Her clear eyes flashed over to me involuntarily. I caught them with my own, sending her primeval vibes. Her eyes flashed away after a few seconds but for the first time, ever, the action didn't feel like she was acknowledging my power. It felt like she was just translating with that drop of the eyes that she saw me as a threat but she wasn't quite finished with me yet.

Oh, yes, little demigoddess, it's not over at all.

I popped a piece of my true love in my mouth—peppermint orbit gum—and fixed my eyes on _Annakeyla_. I watched as she struggled to stay still. She wrote with her right hand but the way she held her paper with her left made me think that her left hand was equally strong.

She didn't look at me but I had the feeling that she was somehow studying me too. Evaluating me. Like a gold fish behind it's bowl.

Joan Sunks was writing things on the board that I took down into my notebook without even thinking about the motion. I didn't really care about square roots times y divided by two equaling either seven or three. Misty didn't seem like she cared either because she kept looking at the clock that was positioned over my helmet. Misty and Annakeyla locked eyes once when Misty was checking the clock but this time it looked like they were already friends. They weren't sniffing each other out like I've been doing with the girls.

The two girls started whispering back and forth. Misty's lips were in a permanent smile and she looked eager for this new friend. Annakeyla looked like she was content with speaking to the nymph but she looked like a person that was having an everyday conversation while standing on a wire over boiling iron. The normal conversation just didn't make sense in her state of mind. I felt myself—sadly—understanding how she felt. That didn't make me like her.

I didn't listen to their conversation because I really didn't care but one word did get through my mental shield. Naturally. My hearing has always been perfect, like 20/20 for your ears. There whispers were loud just like everyone else's.

Brother.

That was a word that Misty had said. She was talking about Annakeyla's. Did she have a normal brother or was he a demigod too? Could he maybe even be a Cyclops? He could be anything—everything but a friend.

_Ding, ding, ding. _

There were sighs from the desks as the class exited the room with zombie faces. _Must eat brains_ is the equivalent of _I stayed up too late last night finishing AP world homework._

I hung back. I knew how to play the new kid role better then anyone. I could take my time getting to my next class because I could claim that I got lost and they wouldn't even be angry. I vaguely listened to the rumbling voice from the loud speakers. The balding man named Principle Mark I guessed.

A blond boy barged into the room while I was studying the map to my English class. I looked up to see that Annakeyla was still in the room too. The boy went right up to her. He was very good looking, if you like that kind of thing.

" I'm here!" The boy looked around like he just noticed that other then the teacher there weren't any humans in the room. I picked up my stuff and planned on just sneaking by.

" Oh, well, you're just a little late Leo." Annakeyla muttered with an annoyed face. He was clearly her brother and he wasn't a Cyclops. He was worse. He was one of those demigods, by the looks of him, that took advantage of how humans see things and uses girls like toilet paper.

"Oh, good. I hate math." He looked a whole lot more at ease and he even smiled at his sister, I would assume. They did have similar looks. There skin color was the same but his hair color was more wheat colored. He had longer legs that were clad in dark denim jeans. He had a t-shirt with a name of some designer on it that showed that he wasn't a weak demigod. He took off his dark sunglasses that concealed his eyes behind black-as-ink lenses. His eyes had the same shape as Annakeyla's but they had slightly more green in them. _I really like his jeans_, part of my brain said but the other half—the logical one—was saying, _you have the knife, kill them both now_.

"What do you have next?" I pretended to be too preoccupied with my map to be paying attention but I wanted to learn their schedule so I would know what to expect. Maybe I would swing by the guidance the office later and pick up a copy of each of theirs.

"Study hall, of course. Vikki and I are going to go out during it though, since it's a free period, wanna come?" Vikki? Who could she be? Vikki might be another—could there really be three demigods here?

"Yeah thanks, but no thanks, little brother. Have fun,"

"Suit yourself. How about you, gorgeous? _You_ wanna come?" The boy, Leo, showed off a cotton white smile at his attempt to flatter me. I watched him with my unemotional mannequin face, like he had just offered me a severed finger instead of his company.

"Go get laid." I muttered and left the room.

I found myself thinking about the demigod when I was in English reading a book I've never heard about that my class was already half finished with. A girl named Jude with black skin and black as night hair. Her eyes were heavy lidded with lots of mascara and eyeliner. She wore all black and she mistook me for someone who would enjoy cutting myself.

"You're one of the new kids right. You must be Adriana." Her voice was husky and low. She totally ignored the fact that we were supposed to be silently reading. Dr. Stone looked so sleepy that he almost looked _stoned_. I'm pretty sure he didn't mind that much if we whispered. He looked like he would love to just leave right now.

My eyes took in her chains and piercings. She would be so pretty if she didn't mess up her face so mush. Should I answer her, people might take me for her friend then they'll think that I'm a cutter too. I eyed her wrist wearily.

"Yeah."

Mary saved me by turning around to face me from the chair in front of me. Her blond curls bounced with the movement. She shot a warning glace at me then looked at the girl Jude.

"We aren't supposed to be talking Jennifer." She whispered fiercely at Jude.

"It's Jude."

"What ever." She turned back around giving me another warning glance. I nodded knowing that she really feared for both of our reputations. Mine was already pretty fucked up but she had that pretty princess title to keep.

Jude's dark eyes locked on my middle finger of my right hand then went back to my eyes with something that I've seen on little girls faces when they watch Hannah Montana. She looked utterly star struck.

"You…you're part of the Black Rose." She whispered but it still sounded really loud like every ones.

"Leader actually." I knew that this girl was one hundred percent human and I don't really come across fans in my line of duty.

She did something that sounded slightly like hypervenhalating. "The leader." She repeated like she couldn't believe it herself. "I'm a huuuue-g-ah fan." She explained. "My adopted brother told me many stories about you! I wrote a book about you and your group, did you know you have like bazillion websites only know one knows you are! You are really wanted you know."

"Part of the job." I shrugged.

"I'm…anything you need. I'm your girl."

I nodded my head politely and even managed a smile. "Thank you."

"That ring…does it really, you know, sicken the the soul so there is less chance of coming back again."

"I've never really asked my victims."

Jude laughed. "Do you mind if I tell my friends about you?"

"Uh." She looked like she would take my secret to the grave if I told her to. "I think it best that those who can see will see for themselves."

She nodded and the childhood hope was still glittering in her eyes.

"Didn't you see that girl? Why would you talk to her? I mean Jude, she just…She's not good company to keep." Mary looked around the crowded hallway as I swapped my English books for my map to find the gymnasium. I studied it silently as I pretended to listen to what Mary was saying.

"—she writes like gothic novels. Last year she wrote about this girl 'with eyes like a silver predator who slowly crept up behind the midnight black unicorn and slashed the horn off making the stag die until it rises again.'"

I remembered that night. That was one hell of a karkadann. Those things are huge unicorns like bigger then Mary's house huge. And they could kill with their horn but when you went to cut the horn off it sliced like butter and the thing is just gone. It was a hard fight. I think I was in the hospital for a whole five hours before I broke out.

"Seriously, she's not right. I wouldn't be surprised if she does…" She lowered her voice again. "Drugs." I rolled my eyes and shut my locker. I was going over the route to the gym over in my head so I wouldn't get lost.

"And did you see those piercings? I heard she has a tattoo on her shoulder of a scull."

"Hey, Mary. It's done. I'm not like going to marry the chick." I looked around looking for the seven hundred hallway which apparently has both the library and the cafeteria in it as well. I should steer clear of the library just in case this school heard about the incident. "I have to get to gym. I don't want to be late on my first day." I lied.

"Oh, right. I don't want to make you get a tardy." She looked so guilty for talking to me. "I better let you go or I might be late too and I have physics which I'm not doing so hot in right now." She looked at the ground. "See you later."

"See you." I fought my way through the thick ocean of bodies.

I pushed the heavy gym doors back. The gym wasn't new or huge like school number five was. I walked up to the woman in the jogging suit and the 80's hair cut who I assumed to be the gym teacher. She had red hair with just the slightest bit of grey settling in the roots. She had a big chin and thin lips. When she spoke she sounded like a man.

"Yes?"

"I can't participate in gym today. I don't have any clothes."

"We all have old uniform gym clothes. You may have one for the day miss…"

"Lee."

"Adriana."

"Formally."

"Well miss Lee, I'll have Skylar show you our clothes for _barrowing_." She put a little emphasis on the word as she looked me up and down. She actually thought that I would steal her used, stinky, old uniforms. Right.

She beckoned to a girl with fierce green eyes with a bark of her name.

"Skylar, show Adriana here where we keep our gym clothes."

"Sure thing." She sounded like a cheerleader, Mary is a cheerleader.

"I saw you this morning with Mary on that bike. You're so brave. Nine out of ten people in motorcycle crashes die." She looked at me soberly then was intoxicated once more with sunshine and butterflies.

"Yeah."

"I just could never do that." She pushed open a closet door and it didn't even smell like B.O. inside. She opened a drawer and extracted a pair of maroon shorts and a white t-shirt with the school's logo on it, a maroon goat face with the word Blazers written under it. She pulled out a pair of pumas which was good because I hate Nikes.

"I think these will fit you." She looked me up and down. "The shorts may be a little snug." She used that innocent voice that the bitchy ones used when they were trying to make you feel bad because they really were feeling intimidated or truly believed what they said and had to point it out.

"In that case I won't have to role them up to show off my ass." I said just as pleasantly to her and turned to leave with my clothes.

Cheerleaders—those who do it for the sport I totally understand but all the rest—mind as well all be blonds.

And the shorts fit fine.

New chapter maybe.

We had to stay still while Mrs. Akins—the coach with the man voice—took down the names of all the absent kids. I stood with four boys standing around me telling me how they are foot ball players—like I would be impressed with that.

"It's a choice gym class for the next few weeks." A shaggy brunette with puppy dog eyes told me.

"You can pick either Frisbee or Football or track." A boy with red hair and freckles smiled at me when he spoke.

"Well, I can't throw a Frisbee for my life. I'm not very strong." I said without really thinking about what I was saying. I just wanted to actually blend in for once, just a little bit. If I had to pretend to do so then I would.

"You can be on our football team babe." The strong boy with a buzz cut of hair looked like he liked the idea of tackle football. I pursed my lips at his eager face. Too bad I don't go out with guys, like ever.

"Thanks." I didn't sound grateful in the slightest because just then I saw a blond head talking to a few boys. Gym class? Good, I will enjoy kicking her but at everything.

"Do you know her?" I asked the boys with my eyes still on the back of Annakeyla's head.

"The new girl yeah, I had study hall with her." The blond boy said with a smile. "How come, you guys like friends?"

"Never met her." I said dismissively. "I was just wondering because since we're both new I'd like to have some one who can relate to what I'm going through right now."

"I understand what you're going through." The freckled boy said, I think he mentioned his name being Patrick but I didn't really care.

"Me too." The blond one, Eric, piped up.

"I don't but my shoulder is available as is my Friday night." The brunette whose name I could remember easily because I once killed a man named Wade and that's what his name was too. Wade, the one I killed, was a Poseidon demigod. Get it, Wade like wade through water.

"Hey, man I called dibs!" Eric pushed Wade back and they got into one of their boy fights. I shot them a dirty look. Dibs? Really? If they want to live they will never decide who gets me.

Patrick watched the boys dispassionately. He watched me from the corner of his eye before making up his mind. I gave him props it was scary to approach me, even demigods and monsters always hesitated in my presence even if they didn't know who I was at the time.

"She moves around a lot. The only people she's been hanging out with a lot are her brother and Misty. Not that I blame her I mean Misty—" He looked at his shoes. "She doesn't really seem like your type."

"My type being?" I raised a deadly gorgeous eyebrow.

"Nothing against the two of you it's just like…you both…I'm not trying to sound cheesy or anything but you both look like you are from another world like you're seeing stuff other then what everyone else is. You're like complete opposites within the same margin."

This was one observant mortal.

"So you think that we are similar but have totally different personalities."

"Just something about the two of you just seems really…different, alike, I can't describe it okay!"

I smiled—showed my teeth rather.

"Don't grow up to be a public speaker."

He beamed at me. "Wasn't planning on it."

"Okay. Frisbee, go to that wall—" Man voice Akins pointed to the far wall to my left. "Track can start out with Miss B. right now and Football line up by the doors." There were a bunch of hoots from the boys as they pummeled over each other to get to the doors.

"You're coming right?" Eric made sure once more. I nodded. I wasn't lying about throwing a Frisbee and all the girls were going out to track basically just going out to walk and gossip. No thank you.

To my disappointment I wasn't the only girl going out for flag football. Annakeyla decided that she wanted to wrestle with some sweaty boys too. I stifled a groan when I saw her snap her blue flag belt around her waist. The boys around me watched her closely as she did it. They were probably looking to help her. I rolled my eyes and fastened mine on before I could get any offers.

"Get in groups and I don't want to hear any mean statements." She shot a look at Wade at the last part.

Annakeyla was attacked by boys just as I was. They were claiming us and fighting each other just to do it. "Get away!" I growled and the boys froze looking at me. "I already have a team." I caught the eyes of the boys that had gotten to me before class. "Find some thing else to ravish."

Annakeyla had a more difficult time then I getting all of her pursuers away from her. I snickered as I walked by holding the football under my arm. My little puppies were trailing after me thanking god that they were lucky enough to have me on their team. I looked back at her once more and smirked she stared at me, exasperated.

"Who do we play first coach?" Eric asked, his eyes kept flickering to my legs then up to my face.

"You've got blue." Man voice Akins said.

Great. I beamed as I watched Annakeyla and her decided team wearing blue belts walk up to the coach.

"Were going to kick butt!" I yelled loud enough so that Annakeyla could hear me from the other end of the field. The boys all roared and grunted in agreement, taking the advantage to give me high fives. I knew what their intentions were but they were clear aware of my boundaries and I was sure that they wouldn't want to cross them.

"Audrey, chuck the ball!" Patrick sprinted towards the end zones that were marked down with white spray paint and bright orange cones. I threw a perfect spiral with ease since he hadn't run that far.

"Jeez, you should be on varsity." Wade muttered watching as Patrick stumbled backwards when the ball hit his chest.

"I'm not really the sports type." I showed my teeth.

The whistle blew and every one turned to face Man Voice Akins. "I don't want to see any tripping, tackles or any foul language. This is a clean game. Oh, and _try_ not to hurt each other too much." She lowered her arm and Wade kicked the football into the air.

The game was on.

The four of us sprinted at the other team ready to grab at anything resembling a blue flag. Annakeyla managed to catch the ball swiftly and ran with two of her team mates flocking her on either side. Eric and one of Annakeyla's teammates head butted each other and fell to the ground. I went at Annakeyla with swift steps that caught me up to her side easily. I whisked the belt off before she could even make it half way across the field.

Take that.

I spit at her feet and got ready to run in the opposite direction for a second time. She looked at the ground in disgust then met my eyes with such annoyance, not just at me but at everything around her it seemed.

"Gimme the ball." She held out her hand for the ball that had fallen on the ground. One of her teammates placed it in her hand with a confused face. She hiked it quick and sprinted by me all the way to the end zone. I kept up with her easily.

"Wittle demigoddess doesn't like getting beat?" I asked in a calm malicious voice. Always the antagonist, that's what family number seven had said about me.

"What's your problem?!" She demanded in an angry voice. "I haven't said a word to you!"

"You're damn father is my problem."

"Ohmygodsandgoddesses, let it go, I'm not him!"

"Let go that he killed my entire family!?" My temper was rising quickly the more I talked to this ignorant little princess.

"You don't understand anything. It's not what you think." She tried to say as nicely as possible but I could hear the strain behind her words. I never take some one calling me stupid sitting down. I forgot where we were, it didn't really matter. The humans wouldn't see anything they didn't want to. I jumped at her with my claws ready. I reached back to grab my dagger from my boot when I realized that I wasn't wearing my dagger. I'm so stupid today!

I was vicious but she wasn't letting herself die easily. She looked like she really didn't want to be fighting me right now but she couldn't just stop. I wouldn't allow that or she would be dead for sure.

"Please. Adriana. We don't have to fight." She kneed me in the belly making me fly back. I growled and lunged at her again getting a good jab at her diaphragm with my elbow. She kicked me back again and caught her breath. I didn't need to catch my own. I was a huntress, a warrior, I fight to the death. I punched her with all of my might with my left hand and her nose started to bleed.

Her creamy white skin looked sad with the crimson leaking down to her lips. Her hair was messed up and her eyes were hopeless. "Please." She whispered.

"Why should I give you mercy when your dad didn't?" I kicked her to the ground. She looked up at me with a calm face. She didn't have any tears in her eyes but just because a girl doesn't have tears in her eyes doesn't mean that her heart doesn't cry. She may come off strong but there's no saying that she isn't feeling all wrong. I was relating to this bitch!

"What's going on?!" Man voice Akins demanded.

"You saw that?" Was all I could manage.

"Detention. Both of you."

"Awesome." We sighed in unison.


	6. Annakeyla New Home

Annakeyla ~

"Home sweet home," my dad said to us when we walked in.

It was one of those homes split into two. This half was ours. The other half belonged to some crazy lady with about four hundred dogs. I thought old ladies kept cats all around their homes?

Guess not this one...

Note to self: stay away from my neighbor.

Other than that, it was a pretty nice place. I mean, it didn't have those cutesy ugly blue shutters that Adriana's house did. I mean, just no. I will never ever love the Barbie doll house thing. In fact, when I was younger, I used to rip apart the Barbie dolls Kara used to have. Zeus demigoddesses always start out very girly, but I changed Kara's mind.

Warrior athlete girl was the way to go.

Anyway, the townhouse part we had was pretty big. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms (perfect, I would never share with Leo, what if he saw my tampons?), one big kitchen with the dining table in it, a nice big living room with a very nice HD television so I could watch my St. Louis Cardinals beat up on the New York Yankees in HD, and to top it off, an in ground pool out back. Dad told me he had that put in for me to practice. I smiled appreciatively at him and thanked him.

"You're coach is having you train somewhere in Long Island on Sundays through Thursdays. After school during the week, and ten A.M. to two P.M. on Sundays. She says she'll email you with the details and such, so I'd keep you're laptop on you," Artemis told me with a smile and wink.

"Laptop?" I said. I didn't own a laptop. Unless... oh no she didn't.

Artemis pulled out a lime green Apple laptop from her silver drawstring bag (which was really tiny and should be unable to hold anything as big as a laptop, but I guess I shouldn't underestimate Artemis's magic).

"Ohmygods," I said to her when she handed it to me. "Thank you!" I said with a huge smile on my face.

"You're very welcome," she told me with a kind smile on her face. She looked like a ghost in her own moonlight from outside.

"We'd best be going," Poseidon said, "Good luck, my children."

"Thanks, Dad," Leo and I said simultaneously.

Poseidon left with Artemis following but she stopped and said to me, "Be careful of Adriana's ring."

Er... what?

"Okay...?" I said as she walked away and disappeared into the moonlight as my dad disappeared into a puddle of sea water.

She gave me a laptop and she's pure genius, so I guess Adriana's ring must be a little weird or something.

I turned to my brother who was already sitting in front of the TV watching the Florida Mariners' (his favorite baseball team) spring training.

'Do you think they have hott girls around here other than that Adriana girl? She had some nice bo—

"Get a life, you pervert," I told him as I walked into the biggest room, which was decorated in all of Leo's stuff. It was a total football room, covered in stuff about the Indianapolis Colts (the football team he wants to be on because they've won so many super bowls), blue and white walls for the Colts' team colors and a Peyton Manning jersey hanging up on the wall next to a shelf with a football signed by Peyton himself. I will never forget that football game mom took us to when we were little. In fact, I think I still have my little pink Colts jersey from then.

"Whoa, whoa, why do you get the biggest room?" I yelled to him.

"You got biggest room last house, Pippy," he yelled back to me.

I muttered some expletives under my breath as I came back out to them room and punched him hard in the arm. "Quit calling me that, punk," I said, sounding a little like Ares's son Phobos, the god of Fear. I hated that kid, too. He knows my fear of snakes, little bastard.

"You sound like Phobos," Leo said aloud laughing, as if he could read my mind.

"I know I just thought of that too. But shut it," I sighed with a small smirk.

"You're room is the second in the hallway. It's the second biggest, I didn't give you the smallest," he said, mocking me towards the end.

"You're really annoying today, did you know that?" I told him.

"I'll tell dad to make your room the smallest," he threatened with a smirk.

"Ya, cause you can't take me on yourself, you have dad do everything for you, you little—ah!"

Leo tackled me in the hallway and pinned me on the ground. I kicked him in the shin (I luckily still had my Nikes on, see I told you they came in handy!) and we kept throwing punches at each other.

He went to punch me and I grabbed his fist, spun up on him and flipped him over my shoulders, his legs taking forever to land.

"Long-legged freak!" I yelled at him.

"Flat chested swimmer girl!" he yelled at me. I gasped and looked down at me B-cups.

"I'm not flat chested you _merda_!"

I bent backwards to avoid his punch and then he kicked me backwards and I fell on the ground. I tried to do a kip to get back up, but my brother was faster than I thought. He put his foot on my stomach and didn't push down that hard—yet.

"I win. Take back everything you said about me and I won't make you smash the pie in your face and I'll take back everything I said about you. Deal, little sister?"

"I'm older," I hissed.

He laughed at me. "I said is it a deal or not?"

I considered it. "I get bigger bathroom."

"Then you still have to smash the pie in your face."

This was our tradition, whenever we fought; the loser had to smash a pie or cake in their face. We've had it going since we were twelve which was, oh gods, five years ago now? Gods, it has.

"Deal, I'll just take a shower after," I said, shrugging, which kind of hurt since I was on the ground.

He smirked in triumph and released his foot off my stomach.

I stood up, dusting myself off, and opening the fridge filled with goodies. Always have Poseidon fill your fridge and pantry. He gave you Oreos, Doritos, pies, cakes, ice cream... you name the unhealthiest food and it was there.

"The pumpkin pie, I think," Leo said with his cocky, victorious grin.

"But that's my favorite kind of pie!" I yelled at him in exasperation, my eyes widening in a pleading way, even though I was so mad I could shove my favorite pie in his face.

"Then I guess the biggest bathroom goes to me too..." he said cockily.

I growled at him and took the cover off the pumpkin pie.

"Wait I need to record this," Leo said grinning, looking for his phone.

"Screw you," I told him, smashing the pie in my face gently so I wouldn't ruin it too badly. I loved this pie. It was orange, pumpkin, cinnamon-y and delicoussss!

"Aw man, I just found it too! You couldn't have waited ten seconds?" Leo said laughing, "You look ridiculously orange. I think you over did your spray tan, sis."

I laughed. "Shut up, Leo!" I said through my laughter.

He grinned. "Go take a shower. I'll eat your pie."

"Don't eat it all!" I yelled at him, "I will eat your Coconut Crème pie if you do!"

He looked horrified. "I'll just have a bite then."

"That's what I thought," I said, shutting the door to the bathroom. Once I caught a look of myself in the mirror, I started laughing hysterically. I looked like I just put bright orange Proactive serum on my face.

"I told you that you over did your spray tan, Key!" Leo yelled to me.

"Shut"—laugh—"Up!" I said, still laughing.

I washed my face and got in the shower, turning on my favorite song (ya, the shower had a place for your iPod isn't that awesome?), Strawberry Swing by Coldplay.

* * *

'"_You are the only exception, ya, you are the only exception, and I'm on my way to believin' it..._"' My alarm went off singing The Only Exception by Paramore.

Ugh. People around here are crazy making school start at eight o'clock. I can't wake up at 6:30 A.M.

I rolled out of bed and took in the beautiful sight of my picture perfect room for the third time and smiling.

It was a pale teal/sea green with white trim around it. The carpet was a sand like color, making me feel like I was at the beach. There were light blue and lime green polka dots all over my wall, and then on the part of the wall over my bed there was my prized possession—my gold medal from the U.S. Championship swimming medley. I competed against the country's top swimmers and won gold.

I wanted a gold Olympic medal to go with that baby.

There was a huge blown up picture of a beautiful sunset on a beach somewhere in Greece on one of my walls, and sand dollars surrounded my room as a border near the ceiling.

I smiled and tore open my overflowing closet, grabbing my white skinny jeans, light blue Under Armour sweatshirt, and navy blue American Eagle Owl t-shirt (I told Athena I had to get it, of course). Looking at my shoes, I decided to grab my furry black Ugg boots. It matched the Under Armour symbol on my sweatshirt anyway.

I walked into my huge bathroom that had those fancy sinks that looked like giant bowls for a sink. It was an ornate white color bowl sink thing. The mirror had lights over it like lights of those on a movie set and the bathroom was a pale spring green with everything else white. It was perfect for me: calm, relaxing, pretty in its own way and soothing.

I needed that.

I threw my hair in a half ponytail clip, threw some mascara and eyeliner on, and walked out of the bathroom to make breakfast. It was only 7 o'clock, according to my phone (which was a Samsung Impression). I still had plenty of time and Leo will probably be watching ESPN—

No Leo on the couch.

That idiot slept in! He's going to be late on the first day! Stupid, lazy, slacker Leo!

I barged into Leo's room and pushed him out of his bed and onto the floor. He woke up as soon as he hit the ground.

"Dammit, Keyla was that really necessary?" he said in a groggy, annoyed voice.

"Get up, you idiot, you're gonna be late to school!"

"Who cares about school?" Leo said, throwing on a shirt for my sake.

I groaned and threw a pillow at him. "There is only one car, remember?" I said, ticked off.

"Nuh-uh. I got myself a ride," he said with a conceited smile.

"How did you manage to do that? We only just got here yesterday!"

"Keyla, Keyla, don't you know? I know hott girls all over the world. I got a ride with sexy Vikki Adura. She has really nice legs..." he said, trailing off and probably thinking about all the dirty things he could do with the girl.

"Ugh. You disgust me," I told him walking out.

"Love ya too, little sis!"

"I'm older!" I yelled back and I heard him laugh as he shut his door and blasted his Ludacris CD.

I grabbed some money for school lunch (hopefully they had something good otherwise I might use that changing spell Hecate taught me), made myself a Jimmy Dean sausage breakfast sandwich for breakfast (and stole an Oreo as I waited for it to finish), grabbed my bag and went out the door to my sleek yellow Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Ya, so maybe I'm not allowed to drive by myself yet since I only had a permit, but oh well!

I took off to school, speeding a little when I realized it was 7:40 A.M.

***

The first bell had rung when I finally parked. I ran into school, throwing my blue American Eagle tote bag on my shoulder.

I went to the guidance office and got my schedule and locker. I had pre-Calc first with Ms. Sunkes! Ugh. At least I had AP History and Arts & Greek Mythology, my favorite subjects. The lady at the guidance office, Mrs. Brotista, gave me a pass so I wouldn't be marked late to class.

I threw all my stuff in my locker as quick as possible, and carried my textbook, math binder, and graphing calculator to room 208.

Ms. Sunkes already had begun to teach her lesson when I walked in.

"Annakeyla Castillo?" she said to me with a warm smile. She was old and shaky, but she looked like must've been really pretty once. She had dark brown hair streaked with places of gray and brown eyes like mud.

"Ya, sorry," I said, handing her the pass.

"Not a problem, dear, take a seat over there," she said, pointing with a shaky hand.

"Okay," I said. I forced myself not to freeze when I saw Adriana. She was glaring at me with a death stare but I expertly made it look like it didn't faze me. I was used to doing that.

I also noticed a water nymph with strawberry blonde hair and misty green eyes. She had long, thick eyelashes, a well developed chest, cherry red lips, tan skin, and red freckles splattered on her round face. She was wearing a purple v-neck shirt that revealed a little too much, light denim skinny jeans, and purple gladiator sandals. She smiled real prettily at me when I sat next to her where Ms. Sunkes had put me. All the guys seemed to look at me and her and, if I could read emotions pretty well, which I could, that ticked off Adriana even more and probably gave my identity away, as if my name didn't. Goddess of the beach is what my name meant; Anna meaning goddess and Keyla meaning beach.

If she knew about gods and demigods and all, I'm pretty sure she can put two and two together. The question was, would she kill me in school?

"Hey, I'm Misty," the water nymph said to me, her eyes widening when I met her gaze. "Oh!' she exclaimed and then leaned in and said softly, "You're Lord Poseidon's demigod twin daughter aren't you? Ohmygods, it's so nice to meet you!" she said.

"Ya, thanks," I said to her. Thanks for marking me to be killed by Adriana, Misty. Good gods.

Oh well. At least she seemed nice. I know nymphs aren't generally very smart, but I can live with that. I needed someone to hang out with anyway. Besides the guys who can't seem to take their eyes off my ass. I wonder if anyone would notice if I incinerated them...

Ugh. One hour. I can make it through one hour.

I looked back cautiously at Adriana to see her still staring me down, hoping to burn a hole through me or something. I swear it was like looking at Artemis's sister. I know Genetics was a really weird and complicated thing, but gods, I could've sworn Artemis's daughter was a mini clone of her. The only difference was that Adriana had brown hair with a silvery tint to it, while Artemis had silver blonde hair.

Where was my stupid brother?

"Where's your brother?" Misty asked me. Sheesh, could everyone read my mind today?

"I wish I knew. He said he was getting a ride with some Vikki girl or something."

"Vikki Adura?" Misty said, raising her eyebrows.

"ya, I think that's her. Why, what's she like?"

"Just keep and eye on her. She's too pretty for own good," Misty said with a scowl, clearly not liking this Vikki girl.

"'Kay thanks, I will, totally," I said, continuing to take the notes that Ms. Sunkes was giving. I realized a little too late if I wanted to go to a good college for architecture and interior designing, I had to have pretty good grades. Not that my grades were bad before they just weren't great. I mean they were in like the 80's, some (like History, English and Mythology) low 90's, but that wasn't going to get me into colleges like Oxford or Boston University, where I wanted to go.

Five minutes left. Gods, Adriana is still glaring at me! I had the urge to punch the girl, being so prejudiced and judgmental when she didn't even technically know me yet. I loved Artemis like a second mother though, so I restrained myself; with difficulty.

I didn't know how I was gonna befriend this chick when we both pretty much didn't like each other already. But I wasn't showing it. At _all_.

The bell rang and it took me a while to collect my stuff, so Misty said she'd see me in Study Hall, which we'd discovered I also had with her. The last people in the room were Adriana and me. Go figure. Guess I should try and make a move to befriend her now right?

Not on your life.

"I'm here!" Leo announced, walking into the math room with his dark glasses, white Armani Exchange graphic t-shirt, dark denim jeans, designer Nikes, and cocky relaxed expression. He grinned when he saw me and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh, well, you're just a little late Leo," I told him, annoyed.

"Oh good," he said, relaxing a little bit, but still holding his lazy, cocky, conceited grin, "I hate math."

I sighed and stood up. "What do you have next?" I asked him.

"Study hall, of course. Vikki and I are going to go out during it though, since it's a free period, wanna come?"

I snickered. "Ya thanks, but no thanks, little brother. Have fun," I told him.

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. How about you, gorgeous? You wanna come?" he said regarding Adriana as he looked at her up and down, clearly liking what he was seeing.

She gave him the dirtiest look ever. "Go get laid," she said to him as she walked out past us. He looked at her backside as she walked out and whistled.

"That was Adriana you idiot," I told him, now annoyed more than ever.

"Ya, I know. She's hott. I think I like this place, hott girls, city life, partying... I love it here."

I rolled my eyes and met up with Misty in the halls to go to Study Hall.

"Ohmygods, so you know that Adriana Lee girl?" Misty said to me when we sat at the back circular table. At least five guys were sitting with us. Ugh. I just wanted Alec, so they can try all they want, not happening.

"Ya, what about her?" I said.

"I think she has a knife in her boot!" Misty whispered, "She's so punk looking. Is she an Ares demigoddess?" she whispered the last sentence to me.

"I have no idea, but I don't think so," I told Misty.

It didn't surprise me that Adriana carried a knife though. She was the daughter of a warrior goddess, and they tend to carry around weapons. She did seem pretty heavy duty biker style though, with her black leather jacket, dark jeans, and silver steel toed boots.

"I'll protect you from the Adriana girl, babe," one of the guys said to Misty. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a seriously hott muscular body. But he was no Alec.

"Ya me too," the blonde guy said, turning his blue eyes on me. "Will protect you too, Annakeyla."

I smiled. "Thanks, but I don't think we'll have to worry about Adriana. She doesn't seem like the serial killer type."

'I dunno, she's a little creepy even though she's kinda hott," the curly red head said. He had cute light blue eyes, pale skin and cute curly red/brown hair.

Brunette boy shrugged.

'You guys didn't introduce yourselves to Annakeyla, rude," Misty said, hitting them all playfully.

"I'm Jon," brunette boy said.

"I'm Eric," blonde boy said.

"I'm Ryan," curly haired boy said.

"Nice to meet you guys," I said politely. Misty smiled at me prettily.

I still didn't know what to think of Adriana Lee, and I had a feeling I'd definitely have to deal with her more later on during the day.

I've gotta find a way to befriend her to get my mom back and save Artemis's butt.


	7. Adriana The big fight scene

Chapter 7

I found myself thinking about the demigod when I was in English reading a book I've never heard about that my class was already half finished with. A girl named Jude with black skin and black as night hair. Her eyes were heavy lidded with lots of mascara and eyeliner. She wore all black and she mistook me for someone who would enjoy cutting myself.

"You're one of the new kids right. You must be Adriana." Her voice was husky and low. She totally ignored the fact that we were supposed to be silently reading. Dr. Stone looked so sleepy that he almost looked _stoned_. I'm pretty sure he didn't mind that much if we whispered. He looked like he would love to just leave right now.

My eyes took in her chains and piercings. She would be so pretty if she didn't mess up her face so mush. Should I answer her, people might take me for her friend then they'll think that I'm a cutter too. I eyed her wrist wearily.

"Yeah."

Mary saved me by turning around to face me from the chair in front of me. Her blond curls bounced with the movement. She shot a warning glace at me then looked at the girl Jude.

"We aren't supposed to be talking Jennifer." She whispered fiercely at Jude.

"It's Jude."

"What ever." She turned back around giving me another warning glance. I nodded knowing that she really feared for both of our reputations. Mine was already pretty fucked up but she had that pretty princess title to keep.

Jude's dark eyes locked on my middle finger of my right hand then went back to my eyes with something that I've seen on little girls faces when they watch Hannah Montana. She looked utterly star struck.

"You…you're part of the Black Rose." She whispered but it still sounded really loud like every ones.

"Leader actually." I knew that this girl was one hundred percent human and I don't really come across fans in my line of duty.

She did something that sounded slightly like hypervenhalating. "The leader." She repeated like she couldn't believe it herself. "I'm a huuuue-g-ah fan." She explained. "My adopted brother told me many stories about you! I wrote a book about you and your group, did you know you have like bazillion websites only know one knows you are! You are really wanted you know."

"Part of the job." I shrugged.

"I'm…anything you need. I'm your girl."

I nodded my head politely and even managed a smile. "Thank you."

"That ring…does it really, you know, sicken the the soul so there is less chance of coming back again."

"I've never really asked my victims."

Jude laughed. "Do you mind if I tell my friends about you?"

"Uh." She looked like she would take my secret to the grave if I told her to. "I think it best that those who can see will see for themselves."

She nodded and the childhood hope was still glittering in her eyes.

"Didn't you see that girl? Why would you talk to her? I mean Jude, she just…She's not good company to keep." Mary looked around the crowded hallway as I swapped my English books for my map to find the gymnasium. I studied it silently as I pretended to listen to what Mary was saying.

"—she writes like gothic novels. Last year she wrote about this girl 'with eyes like a silver predator who slowly crept up behind the midnight black unicorn and slashed the horn off making the stag die until it rises again.'"

I remembered that night. That was one hell of a karkadann. Those things are huge unicorns like bigger then Mary's house huge. And they could kill with their horn but when you went to cut the horn off it sliced like butter and the thing is just gone. It was a hard fight. I think I was in the hospital for a whole five hours before I broke out.

"Seriously, she's not right. I wouldn't be surprised if she does…" She lowered her voice again. "Drugs." I rolled my eyes and shut my locker. I was going over the route to the gym over in my head so I wouldn't get lost.

"And did you see those piercings? I heard she has a tattoo on her shoulder of a scull."

"Hey, Mary. It's done. I'm not like going to marry the chick." I looked around looking for the seven hundred hallway which apparently has both the library and the cafeteria in it as well. I should steer clear of the library just in case this school heard about the incident. "I have to get to gym. I don't want to be late on my first day." I lied.

"Oh, right. I don't want to make you get a tardy." She looked so guilty for talking to me. "I better let you go or I might be late too and I have physics which I'm not doing so hot in right now." She looked at the ground. "See you later."

"See you." I fought my way through the thick ocean of bodies.

I pushed the heavy gym doors back. The gym wasn't new or huge like school number five was. I walked up to the woman in the jogging suit and the 80's hair cut who I assumed to be the gym teacher. She had red hair with just the slightest bit of grey settling in the roots. She had a big chin and thin lips. When she spoke she sounded like a man.

"Yes?"

"I can't participate in gym today. I don't have any clothes."

"We all have old uniform gym clothes. You may have one for the day miss…"

"Lee."

"Adriana."

"Formally."

"Well miss Lee, I'll have Skylar show you our clothes for _barrowing_." She put a little emphasis on the word as she looked me up and down. She actually thought that I would steal her used, stinky, old uniforms. Right.

She beckoned to a girl with fierce green eyes with a bark of her name.

"Skylar, show Adriana here where we keep our gym clothes."

"Sure thing." She sounded like a cheerleader, Mary is a cheerleader.

"I saw you this morning with Mary on that bike. You're so brave. Nine out of ten people in motorcycle crashes die." She looked at me soberly then was intoxicated once more with sunshine and butterflies.

"Yeah."

"I just could never do that." She pushed open a closet door and it didn't even smell like B.O. inside. She opened a drawer and extracted a pair of maroon shorts and a white t-shirt with the school's logo on it, a maroon goat face with the word Blazers written under it. She pulled out a pair of pumas which was good because I hate Nikes.

"I think these will fit you." She looked me up and down. "The shorts may be a little snug." She used that innocent voice that the bitchy ones used when they were trying to make you feel bad because they really were feeling intimidated or truly believed what they said and had to point it out.

"In that case I won't have to role them up to show off my ass." I said just as pleasantly to her and turned to leave with my clothes.

Cheerleaders—those who do it for the sport I totally understand but all the rest—mind as well all be blonds.

And the shorts fit fine.

We had to stay still while Mrs. Akins—the coach with the man voice—took down the names of all the absent kids. I stood with four boys standing around me telling me how they are foot ball players—like I would be impressed with that.

"It's a choice gym class for the next few weeks." A shaggy brunette with puppy dog eyes told me.

"You can pick either Frisbee or Football or track." A boy with red hair and freckles smiled at me when he spoke.

"Well, I can't throw a Frisbee for my life. I'm not very strong." I said without really thinking about what I was saying. I just wanted to actually blend in for once, just a little bit. If I had to pretend to do so then I would.

"You can be on our football team babe." The strong boy with a buzz cut of hair looked like he liked the idea of tackle football. I pursed my lips at his eager face. Too bad I don't go out with guys, like ever.

"Thanks." I didn't sound grateful in the slightest because just then I saw a blond head talking to a few boys. Gym class? Good, I will enjoy kicking her but at everything.

"Do you know her?" I asked the boys with my eyes still on the back of Annakeyla's head.

"The new girl yeah, I had study hall with her." The blond boy said with a smile. "How come, you guys like friends?"

"Never met her." I said dismissively. "I was just wondering because since we're both new I'd like to have some one who can relate to what I'm going through right now."

"I understand what you're going through." The freckled boy said, I think he mentioned his name being Patrick but I didn't really care.

"Me too." The blond one, Eric, piped up.

"I don't but my shoulder is available as is my Friday night." The brunette whose name I could remember easily because I once killed a man named Wade and that's what his name was too. Wade, the one I killed, was a Poseidon demigod. Get it, Wade like wade through water.

"Hey, man I called dibs!" Eric pushed Wade back and they got into one of their boy fights. I shot them a dirty look. Dibs? Really? If they want to live they will never decide who gets me.

Patrick watched the boys dispassionately. He watched me from the corner of his eye before making up his mind. I gave him props it was scary to approach me, even demigods and monsters always hesitated in my presence even if they didn't know who I was at the time.

"She moves around a lot. The only people she's been hanging out with a lot are her brother and Misty. Not that I blame her I mean Misty—" He looked at his shoes. "She doesn't really seem like your type."

"My type being?" I raised a deadly gorgeous eyebrow.

"Nothing against the two of you it's just like…you both…I'm not trying to sound cheesy or anything but you both look like you are from another world like you're seeing stuff other then what everyone else is. You're like complete opposites within the same margin."

This was one observant mortal.

"So you think that we are similar but have totally different personalities."

"Just something about the two of you just seems really…different, alike, I can't describe it okay!"

I smiled—showed my teeth rather.

"Don't grow up to be a public speaker."

He beamed at me. "Wasn't planning on it."

"Okay. Frisbee, go to that wall—" Man voice Akins pointed to the far wall to my left. "Track can start out with Miss B. right now and Football line up by the doors." There were a bunch of hoots from the boys as they pummeled over each other to get to the doors.

"You're coming right?" Eric made sure once more. I nodded. I wasn't lying about throwing a Frisbee and all the girls were going out to track basically just going out to walk and gossip. No thank you.

To my disappointment I wasn't the only girl going out for flag football. Annakeyla decided that she wanted to wrestle with some sweaty boys too. I stifled a groan when I saw her snap her blue flag belt around her waist. The boys around me watched her closely as she did it. They were probably looking to help her. I rolled my eyes and fastened mine on before I could get any offers.

"Get in groups and I don't want to hear any mean statements." She shot a look at Wade at the last part.

Annakeyla was attacked by boys just as I was. They were claiming us and fighting each other just to do it. "Get away!" I growled and the boys froze looking at me. "I already have a team." I caught the eyes of the boys that had gotten to me before class. "Find some thing else to ravish."

Annakeyla had a more difficult time then I getting all of her pursuers away from her. I snickered as I walked by holding the football under my arm. My little puppies were trailing after me thanking god that they were lucky enough to have me on their team. I looked back at her once more and smirked she stared at me, exasperated.

"Who do we play first coach?" Eric asked, his eyes kept flickering to my legs then up to my face.

"You've got blue." Man voice Akins said.

Great. I beamed as I watched Annakeyla and her decided team wearing blue belts walk up to the coach.

"Were going to kick butt!" I yelled loud enough so that Annakeyla could hear me from the other end of the field. The boys all roared and grunted in agreement, taking the advantage to give me high fives. I knew what their intentions were but they were clear aware of my boundaries and I was sure that they wouldn't want to cross them.

"Audrey, chuck the ball!" Patrick sprinted towards the end zones that were marked down with white spray paint and bright orange cones. I threw a perfect spiral with ease since he hadn't run that far.

"Jeez, you should be on varsity." Wade muttered watching as Patrick stumbled backwards when the ball hit his chest.

"I'm not really the sports type." I showed my teeth.

The whistle blew and every one turned to face Man Voice Akins. "I don't want to see any tripping, tackles or any foul language. This is a clean game. Oh, and _try_ not to hurt each other too much." She lowered her arm and Wade kicked the football into the air.

The game was on.

The four of us sprinted at the other team ready to grab at anything resembling a blue flag. Annakeyla managed to catch the ball swiftly and ran with two of her team mates flocking her on either side. Eric and one of Annakeyla's teammates head butted each other and fell to the ground. I went at Annakeyla with swift steps that caught me up to her side easily. I whisked the belt off before she could even make it half way across the field.

Take that.

I spit at her feet and got ready to run in the opposite direction for a second time. She looked at the ground in disgust then met my eyes with such annoyance, not just at me but at everything around her it seemed.

"Gimme the ball." She held out her hand for the ball that had fallen on the ground. One of her teammates placed it in her hand with a confused face. She hiked it quick and sprinted by me all the way to the end zone. I kept up with her easily.

"Wittle demigoddess doesn't like getting beat?" I asked in a calm malicious voice. Always the antagonist, that's what family number seven had said about me.

"What's your problem?!" She demanded in an angry voice. "I haven't said a word to you!"

"You're damn father is my problem."

"Ohmygodsandgoddesses, let it go, I'm not him!"

"Let go that he killed my entire family!?" My temper was rising quickly the more I talked to this ignorant little princess.

"You don't understand anything. It's not what you think." She tried to say as nicely as possible but I could hear the strain behind her words. I never take some one calling me stupid sitting down. I forgot where we were, it didn't really matter. The humans wouldn't see anything they didn't want to. I jumped at her with my claws ready. I reached back to grab my dagger from my boot when I realized that I wasn't wearing my dagger. I'm so stupid today!

I was vicious but she wasn't letting herself die easily. She looked like she really didn't want to be fighting me right now but she couldn't just stop. I wouldn't allow that or she would be dead for sure.

"Please. Adriana. We don't have to fight." She kneed me in the belly making me fly back. I growled and lunged at her again getting a good jab at her diaphragm with my elbow. She kicked me back again and caught her breath. I didn't need to catch my own. I was a huntress, a warrior, I fight to the death. I punched her with all of my might with my left hand and her nose started to bleed.

Her creamy white skin looked sad with the crimson leaking down to her lips. Her hair was messed up and her eyes were hopeless. "Please." She whispered.

"Why should I give you mercy when your dad didn't?" I kicked her to the ground. She looked up at me with a calm face. She didn't have any tears in her eyes but just because a girl doesn't have tears in her eyes doesn't mean that her heart doesn't cry. She may come off strong but there's no saying that she isn't feeling all wrong. I was relating to this bitch!

"What's going on?!" Man voice Akins demanded.

"You saw that?" Was all I could manage.

"Detention. Both of you."

"Awesome." We sighed in unison.

"Detention?" Mary whispered hoarsely looking over her shoulder at all of the gossiping kids tossing looks at me. I caught a couple of them and made them look down immediately. I had to admit that it was much easier with my cult around me in the other schools so at least I had somebody to be lonely _with_. Here I was just lonely all by myself with my whole out there-ness. We were mysterious together when we did something like...let's say start a fight. No, without them I just look like a psycho.

"For two weeks." I muttered sadly while catching the eye of a boy talking with Misty. He looked back at the water nymph, quick for a reason not to look at me. The ironic part was that it was that it was Wade.

"How are we gonna get out of this?" She put her delicate pink fingers up to her lips in distress. This. Is. Not. Your. Problem. I wished that it was that easy for her to grasp.

"We?" I raised an eyebrow at the blonde pixie.

"Well of course, silly, I _am_ your sister now and sisters stick together."

Funny, I always thought sisters stole each other's clothes and bickered at one another. "Okay." The agreement didn't exactly fit what she was saying but I wasn't exactly paying attention.

Did Annakeyla just stick up for me? I beat her. She should be crushed. I beat her. I. Beat. Her. She walked past with the nymph at her heels. The strawberry blonde curls bounced as she turned her head to look at me like something was bothering her. I growled and she quickly turned away looking vaguely chipmunk-ish.

"What was that?" There was a bit of terror buried in her eyes as she spoke.

"Sorry, something was in my throat."

"Oh, okay"

"Hey I think I'm going to ditch the rest of the day." I said slowly as I watched the two girls embrace and Annakeyla walk away. I never really liked school I just showed up because it was a law that I had to and I didn't need the immortal and the mortal government on my tail. Not to mention school was a wonderful place to find a bunch of weak demigods and a few monsters even.

"Ditch." She inhaled with shock. "Mom will be furious."

"She'll be mad that I got in a fight too." I pointed out dryly. Why do I need to tell her what I'm doing anyway?

I headed towards the office first. Planning on acquiring those schedules then maybe I would take a cruise around the school to learn the places here. I didn't want to be caught at a disadvantage in my own...current placement.


	8. Annakeyla Dreams

Chapter 8;

"Well sweetheart, it looks like it's broken," the nurse, Ms. Blaze, said.

Fabulous. As if my pride wasn't already broken. You do not know how badly I wanted to hurt her, but for Artemis's sake I couldn't. I had to get through to this girl somehow to save her.

But allowing the bitch to beat me up is TOO FAR!

And she wound me up in detention. My dad is going to murder me.

"Thanks. I'm not feeling too well, though. Do you think I can go home so I can go to the doctors and stuff?" I asked Ms. Blaze, giving her my compelling sea look. I needed to get out of here and NOW.

Oh how much easier it would be if she knew who she was. I was very close to telling her during that whole incident in gym...

Poor baby she was. She's so confused, so torn by the loss of her family.

Ugh, I gotta stop this, this bitch BEAT ME UP! No more feeling sorry until I've figured things out.

"Sure, sweetheart. I'll let you're teachers know. I'm sorry it's been such a rough first day for you."

"Oh, thanks," I said in my sickliest, sweetest voice, "And I'm fine, no worries."

I walked out in a huff and Misty was standing outside the door.

"Ohmygods, I cannot _believe_ her!" misty said, her perfect face and complexion full of anger.

"Don't worry about it, it's personal stuff," I told her, "But thanks."

"Adriana's a bitch, man," Ryan said to Jon and Eric.

"Oh hell ya. It don't matter how hot she is she's a total bitch, messing you up like that."

"Totally."

Before I knew what was going on there was a crowd of people around me asking me if I was okay and dissing Adriana Lee.

"Stop!" I yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone looked at me and I saw Adriana standing off with some blonde, pink drowned girl.

"I appreciate you all worrying about me. I'm fine, honestly. Thanks though. And don't be so mean to Adriana," I told them, glancing at Adrian when I did so.

Then I grabbed Misty's arm and walked outside to my car to leave as everyone else gave me sympathetic looks (or, as all the guys were, checking me out).

What a fabulous first day of school for me.

Now to deal with the rest of my nightmare life.

"I'll just call the school and tall them I have a family emergency," Misty said once we were outside at my car.

"That's really okay Misty I'll be fine," I told her, feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket.

"You sure?"

"Positive. Thanks, though."

She hugged me and I hugged her back appreciatively.

"I'll call you."

"Underwater?" I said knowingly. Triton will probably be pissed about having to redirect the call through the sewer system, but he could suck it up after what I'd been through.

"How'd you know?" Misty said with a grin.

"You don't have my cell phone number," I said with a faint smile.

"Ya. Well, I _will_ call you."

"Okay. Bye, Misty."

"Bye, Annakeyla."

I jumped in the car, blasted my Coldplay music, and checked my phone before I skidded away.

It was a text from Alec.

'I'm coming' it read.

I tried not to believe it so I wouldn't get my hopes up

***

I opened the door and threw all my stuff on the floor and what do you know?

Leo has three girls sitting around him, all dressed scantily and rubbing him up and down.

I'd had enough for one day.

"Leo—I began in the nastiest voice ever.

"Keyla!" he yelled in surprise and embarrassment, jumping up. All the girls looked at me and said "Ugh, who's _she_?"

I grabbed my sapphire blue magic necklace (all us demigods have to wear it in order to produce any kind of godly magic, it brings out the godliness in our systems) and started to say an ugly turning curse but Leo put a hand on me.

"What?" I hissed.

"I know what happened. I'm sorry about Adriana," he told me.

"Whatever," I said.

He sighed. "Annakeyla, Alec and Kara are in your room. They just got here."

My eyes widened with happiness. Finally, something good happening to me today!

And Alec.....

"Thanks, Leo," I told him.

"No problem. Now where was I?" he said turning back with a very sexually interested look on his face.

"You were getting these girls out before I decide to call dad and Zeus and tell them how you're trying to break their record of having sex with girls," I said dangerously, an evil smirk on my face. His face was priceless, the horror I'd invoked to him was a beautiful thing.

"You wouldn't," he said.

"You don't know what I've been through today. I would," I told him, still giving him a motherly but triumphant look.

He muttered some nasty curse words under his breath but then said "Fine. Then your friends leave in a half hour."

"Deal, little brother," I told him, walking into my room with a smile.

Probably one of the first real smiles I had all day.

I walked into my room, closing my eyes and praying silently to Poseidon that I wouldn't completely lose my temper, fingering my sapphire blue necklace that held my godly powers. It brought them out, since normal human characteristics were dominant over godly characteristics when you were a demigoddess.

I opened my door and was almost literally knocked over by Kara jumping on me to give me a hug.

"Keyla!" she practically screamed. I saw Leo's little girlfriends (tools) giving us looks like we were freaks. Glaring at all of them, I shut the door. Stupid sluts.

"Hi Kara," I said to her after she released me so I could breathe. I noticed that her and Alec were exchanging little smiling glances, which was surprising after what had just happened today.

I saw Alec in the corner, light brown hair, pale blue eyes (these he got from his mom, and they were the most adorable eyes ever), pale ish skin and perfect smile. He was kind of shy I guess, but once you get to know him, he was pretty great. I mean sure he told a lot of racist and blonde jokes (which pissed me off a little) but he was sweet, cute, nice, friendly, a little loud, and amazing. I always sort of liked him on and off but now I was really starting to love him. I'd date other guys, but always wound up going back to Alec.

"Heard you beat up Adriana on the first day," Alec said with his mischievous little grin, "Nice, sista," he said with a laugh.

I half frowned half smiled if that was possible. Guess it was because I did it. "It's more like the other way around because of Artemis. I let the girl freaking murder me cause I didn't want to have to fight her!" I finished, pointing to my nose.

He still grinned at me and still kept on exchanging those weird happy looks with Kara. Ugh, what was going on?

"I can fix that, silly, stay still," he said, coming closer.

Ignoring his comment, I took three steps back and said "Whoa, whoa, wait, what're you going to do?" but he rolled his eyes and forced me to sit down on the bed. Kara looked like she was watching a comedy.

"Alec what are you doing?!"

"Fixing your nose, stupid, now stand still," he said. He rubbed his hand together and put one on his nose, holding his topaz sharp tooth shaped necklace in his other hand (he constantly hid it because he thought it was girly) and mutter Latin spells under his breath to fix my nose. The whole time he was doing it I was staring into his eyes, and he was staring back but it wasn't like weird, it was like..... sweet. Nice. I think I was losing myself in his eyes.

Oops.

I saw Kara continuing to stifle laughter and I gave her a dirty look. That didn't stop her.

Once he finished, I quickly looked down at my feet saying "Thanks".

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's--

"Annakeyla," I heard Artemis's voice say.

Great.

I turned around with a very pissed look on my face. "Hi, Artemis," i said sourly.

"I am so, so sorry about what Adriana did to you," she said apologetically. "But a fight? You guys had to get in a fight? You, Annakeyla?"

"Me?!" I hissed, striking out like a cobra with anger. "Oh, okay. Well maybe if she knew what actually happened to her dad and brother and why, she wouldn't hate me, Leo and my dad so much and maybe if she knew you were her mother, things would be easier and I wouldn't be an effing death target of hers, thank you very much!"

Artemis glared at me and her moon eyes glistened darker. "You know the consequences of her knowing!" she yelled at me.

"Oh please, so Zeus would send a fate after her. You should already know Leo and I can take care of that with ease."

She grabbed me by the shirt color and her eyes were almost black when she said "He would send Kampe herself after her!"

I backed out of her grip and backed down from my aggressive defensive mode.

"Oh," I said unsteadily. I sat down and Alec pulled my head down on his shoulder. I gave Kara a what-the look and she just smiled weakly at me.

Artemis sighed. "Annakeyla, you know I love you like my own daughter. I understand that the fight was not your fault. But please, find a way, any way, to be friends with Adriana without having to tell her the truth. She can't know yet. It'd put her in grave danger."

I looked at Artemis and nodded.

"Thank you," she said to me with a smile, her moon eyes lightening and glistening, "And darling, you have swim in a little less than an hour."

I groaned at her last sentence as she disappeared.

"I'll go get your stuff," Kara said to me with a smile and wink. I started to protest but she left before it had any effect.

I jumped off the bed the second she shut the door, possibly out of reflexes.

"You're acting like you're afraid of me Keyla, what's wrong?" he asked.

What's wrong? My day sucked and now you're coming in and being all supporting and nice and... not used to that. Plus, I really like you.

Imagine how funny it would've been if I said that out loud... ha-ha.

"What?" I said, deciding to be semi honest to the guy I'd loved for ages. "I'd never be afraid of you. Nothing's wrong, really Alec, I promise. It's just been a rough day.

He smiled weakly at me. 'It'll be okay," he said, giving me a quick.

I smiled. He was so warm and his skin was soft. "Thanks," I said before I could think about his body anymore.

I turned to grab my bathing suit and hair-tie, when he said "Keyla... do you want to come into the city with me this weekend?"

My expression must've been pretty funny since I was shocked, dumbfounded, happy and feeling stupid. He looked like he was holding back laughter and he got a little red.

"Oh, uh, actually I'd love to," I said, my cheeks turning pink as I said it. He grinned cockily now, which was quite a nice sight, by the way. he looked major hot when he did it.

"I'll pick you up around eleven then."

"Okay," I said with a smile.

He gave me a hug, wished me luck at practice, and left for his townhouse.

I couldn't stop smiling, but when I opened my bedroom door, my smile faded instantly.

There was a dracaenae, which was almost the equivalent of a vampire with sharp claws like Wolverine, on my brother (who was, by the way, completely freaking out), and Kara was trying to pry her off and kill her.

I took off my silver bracelet which instantly turned into my golden weapon (even though it's silver) my sword.

The dracanae saw me. 'You!" she hissed. "You're the stupid girl who attacked my boyfriend!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Fighting easy, superficial, stupid monsters like dracaenae was a walk in the park after being taught by Athena.

"You're boyfriend is Nicholas?!" I laughed, "Ew!"

She growled and lunged at me but I easily ducked out of the way and she hit the wall.

"That all you got, little vampire?" I taunted.

"I'm a dracaenae, don't call me a vampire!!!" she yelled, lunging and me again with her fangs exposed. I round kicked her in the face and some of her teeth (and both her fangs) fell out from the blow.

"My fangs!" she cried, landing. She looked at me with a vicious hatred and a look that she wanted to kill me.

Bring it girl I've gotten that already today from Adriana.

She lunged again, this time trying to better protect herself except she couldn't cause she was too stupid. I easily stabbed her in the stomach and pulled my sword clean out. She looked at me, swore at me, and disappeared into dust as she went to the Underworld.

"She was annoying and a horrible fighter," I told Leo and Kara. Kara shook her head at me and laughed.

"You're ridiculous," she told me. I shrugged.

Bet you money that dracaenae couldn't fight cause she relied on her little Nicholas to protect her.

Ha-ha, stupid dracaenae girl.

"I gotta head off to swim," I said walking towards the door.

"Well, sis, that was insane and, uh, thanks," Leo said to me.

"M'm h'm," I said smiling slightly. He owed me now. Maybe I'd make him buy me a pumpkin pie.

"Guess I gotta go see my house too," Kara said, "Bye Keyla, Leo," she said, hugging me.

"See ya Kara," Leo said, and said nto me with the hugest grin "And goodbye, sis, I mean Mrs. Bolten."

That's Alec's last name, incase you didn't know. I saw the vase near the front door, picked it up and chucked it at my brother as I went out the front door, smiling and unable to stop my blushing.

My head was soaking wet from swim which I'd only got out of a half hour ago. My coach worked me major hard today; and I was dying. I hadn't stretched out enough or drank enough water before I left (maybe because I was with Alec).

Speaking of Alec he'd just texted me. Ugh. I love him, but I NEED to sleep. I am one hundred percent drained of energy.

'Do u like ocean jasper better or turquoise? Don't ask y u don't wanna kno ull prob kill me'

I rolled my eyes and texted back 'u stealing stuff again? and ocean jasper but i hav no part in this... :)'

Okay so maybe he pissed off the gods on an exponential level, stole, pick pocketed and pranked them or other mortals and demigods constantly, but he was amazing and I love him. I didn't say you had to understand why, did I? Because I don't even think I totally know. I just know I do.

I tried to stay awake, but I tend to suck at that, and I ended up falling asleep.

All these memories flashed around in my head and I realized I'd fallen asleep with my sapphire necklace on. My dreams tonight would probably end up either a)scaring the hell out of me b)confusing me to no end or c)tell/show me things that are important. That's what tended to happen when you wore your Ichor pendant to sleep.

My mind focused on one memory and suddenly I was transported into it in a sense. I watched as it was the first day I'd seen Adriana with my brother, dad and Artemis. There were four words Leo said that stuck out in my mind as I watched me being all confused and Poseidon and Artemis looking irritated.

'"I'll tell you later"' he had said.

Whoa wait. He never did tell!

The scene shifted and I saw Apollo.

"Annakeyla," he said to me with a small smile.

"This is going to be the weirdest thing I've ever said, but why does everybody say my name when they see me? That's the first thing everyone says! Why not like 'hey how you doing?' no instead I get 'Annakeyla'!" I said honestly thinking about it but freaking out in my head because the fact that he's in my dreams means that something bad is probably gonna happen. Not that I minded him being in my dreams or anything...

Apollo laughed at me. "You tend to babble when you are nervous in case you didn't know."

I gave him a sarcastic thanks-a-lot look. "Ya, I know, thanks," I said.

He coughed to cover up his laugh and to help him quit laughing. "Anyway," he said, "I have a message for you. Hades is planning something to intervene and possibly foil your plans of befriending Adriana."

My shoulders straightened and my jaw set in an angry defensive position. Hades, my least favorite god next to Zeus. Let him come. So i can kick his ass for taking my mother from me and sending his bastard son at me.

"Foil how?" I said in a strained, angry voice.

He frowned sympathetically at me. "I can't tell you that. I'm already breaking about a thousand rules telling you this. I'm sorry. Just keep your bracelet on you, especially in your detention. I Have a feeling that something going's to happen then," he said with a little smirk.

"Subtle," I said with a laugh which cooled me down slightly, "And thanks. Can I go back to having a peaceful sleep now? Not that you're like rowdy or anything but I'm tired," I told Apollo.

With a smile, he said, "Of course, of course. Sleep well, Anna,' he told me, hugging me before he left me.

I slept thinking 'Well, I do like being hugged by hott gods in my dreams'.


	9. Adriana Blowing up a bar

Chapter 7

"How'd you get detention on your first day?!" Eleanor looked upset but she wasn't the mom to yell. She looked more upset by the fact that she would be known as the foster mom of a detention-eer.

"She got in this wicked cat fight." Bryan took out his cell phone for his mother to see just how _wicked_ it had been.

"Poor girl." She whispered when she saw all of Annakeyla's blood. It took all of my strength not to smile with my victory. "Audrey...why...I don't..."

"It was a...um misunderstanding is all." I said sweetly.

"That doesn't give you the right to do what you did. Don't think that just because I'm a new parent that I'll stand for something like that."

"El--Mrs. Gest, it's not what you think, you don't understand." I tried not to think about how Annakeyla said almost the same thing to me during the fight.

"You're grounded." Her hands dropped onto her lap. She looked tired all of a sudden like out quick--biased--conversation had aged her. "I know you don't know how this family works just yet so I'll give you only a week. You're not allowed out of the house except for school or if I or Mr. Gest accompany you."

"Ma--" Marty started to object but her mother had made up her mind and a mother with a made up mind can be something dangerous. Mother bears for instance, go near their cubs and you're dead. Human mothers are just as stubborn and territorial.

"No, finis. Period. End of story. The end. Come again."

I've been through enough of these conversations to know that I should now walk into my room and let Eleanor cool down. I nodded and turned with my new notebook tucked under my arm.

Mary fallowed me into the room and plopped down onto the bed as I sat on the desk and began to document my day. I went into more details then necessary about my fight. I wrote down all of the information I knew of each creature I encountered over the day. Misty, Annakeyla and Leo. I stapled the schedules into the lined pages which also hand their last names, phone and i.d. numbers on it.

Mary talked to the walls while I worked.

"Mom will cool down don't worry about her. She's just confused and she never really had to deal with any of this with me and Bryan. No offense."

"None taken."

"Anyway..." She yawned like a small pink kitten." I think I'm going to wash my face and stuff..." She dragged her self out of the room and left me in peace--finally.

I pulled the covers over me and set my alarm for twelve o'clock. I kept it on vibrate so I wouldn't wake Mary. My lids were heavy so that they went down almost immediately and my brain shut down. I was asleep.

My hip vibrated and my eyes fluttered open. All the reniments of my previous dream muted along with my alarm as I fumbled for the button to silence it. My eyes were ridden with sleep or lack thereof in my case. I fisted them until I could see again in the amethyst colored room. I checked the sleeping lump in the bed to make sure that my movements hadn't awoken her.

My footsteps were near dead silent as I crept to the place that I hid my suitcase of deadly weapons--the underside of my bed. Fort Knox all the way. I've never been really safe with my weapons because something about them just naturally kept people away. Maybe humans could subconsciously sense all the deaths that these instruments caused. I felt nothing. I strained my eyes since there wasn't any moonlight keeping the dark bottom of my bed lit up like the rest of the room. The moon was almost as bright as the sun in my opinion.

I could see the wall on the other side and a few stray bobby pins which was odd because there should be a big dark object in the middle of me and wall. There wasn't any suitcase. My suitcase was gone. G-o-n-e gone.

Who took it? Who knew I was here? Who knew who I was?

Did Eleanor do it to further the grounding? Maybe she thought it was just shoes. Taking away shoes would be a new punishment. If she had mistaken my death instruments for shoes she was deadly mistaken. I have to find them!

I scanned the house top to bottom without waking up a soul. Nothing. No where. The suitcase wasn't stolen from me by a Gest. Who else? Was this Annakeyla getting back at me? I wouldn't put this behavior past a Poseidon demigoddess. She probably got her sea scum brother to help her get it out my window without anyone noticing.

The monsters better hide well tonight because I wasn't in a very pleasant mood tonight--er--this morning! This is very bad accounting for the way I act around monsters when I'm having a good day.

I threw on my leather jacket and ran out the door. Beats jumping out the window for now. My motorcycle gleamed in the moonlight making it look other worldly. But there was something on its side--a _flaw_. Duct tape. Duct tape held a screw driver to my bike along with a piece of paper with silver script written on it.

_Adriana_, it read,_ I had a friend take your weapons away. If you aren't going to use them respectfully, you don't deserve to wield them. You may keep your motorcycle and knife and I even let you have this charming little screwdriver. Screwdrivers are just fabulous. Keep it. Keep it with you at all times it will be important soon. Happy hunting._

_ Diana._

I peeled the tape off of my bike and read over the note once more. I folded and put it and the screw driver in my pocket. My body was boiling with anger. Who was this Diana chick anyway? I've never even met a Diana before. Unless it was a monster. Why would a monster help me though? Who knew that I was who I am. This Diana girl could be deadly to my cult. I needed to tell Ryan and Emily but first I needed to kick some undead butt.

The wind felt wonderful on my skin. Since my leather jacket had been jacked by Diana I was only wearing a T-shirt (and pants of course).I didn't feel as cold as I should have but maybe it was because I am already so cold that temperature doesn't really affect me anymore.

I wasn't sure how far I rode but I started seeing Irish pubs, pharmacies and stores flash by. I assumed that I was in New York City now. It smelt like the city. That fabulous smell of garbage left on the sidewalks for the garbage man and that great feel of homeless people trying to sell stolen candy on the corners so they can go and buy weed. Ahhh the city.

My eyes were open and my senses were on hyperactive. It wasn't that difficult to sense an area with a lot of monsters. I saw a few demigods walking on the sidewalk but they seemed harmless and I had a terrible feeling in the gut of my stomach that there was much, much more danger some where else. The demigods would be my hunt on the way back.

A man was taking a picture of an alley way with a big puddle/slush ball in the middle. I raced past him into the alley making his hair fly back. Water sprayed away from my wheels making the urine coated walls splattered.

I got off of my motorcycle by an ordinary purple door that could easily be just some back entrance to a bakery. I had to make sure my instinct were correct. I couldn't just kick down the door and start stabbing people with my screw driver then be arrested. I waited with my motorcycle in the shadows behind a very unappealing smelling dumpster.

My hook was cast now all I had to do was wait for a nibble.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I started doodling in the pavement with my screw driver since I didn't want to damage the blade of my knife. I made a smile face that looked familiar or maybe part of me wanted to find him familiar. I pretended I didn't know what I was talking about. Which I don't. Really.

Finally, like after a good hour of waiting a few...er people came out of the door. Three women with full lips and matching black locks walked by my hiding place. I looked them up and down trying to place the race of the girls. There were gorgeous which means they just had to be creatures. My eyes washed over the younger looking girl's white shirt and found a small red dot that many people wouldn't have been able to detect but with my hunting it was like a big red siren. Re-roo, re-roo, lamia, lamia. Vampires, as most humans call them now. The heavy pounding of the base behind the purple door kept my foot steps undetectable to the vampires. I gripped my screwdriver with my left hand and my knife in my right. I was freaking Bob the Builder on steroids.

I slashed the first girl's neck and she dustified before they even knew that I was there. The girl managed a scream of warning before she was gone which the other two picked up on instantly. The taller girl with a more prominent chin bared her long shark like teeth. I bared mine right back at her and might even managed a growl to her hiss. Her eyes were steadily watching my neck instead of my eyes as she went at me with manicured claws. Her hand came down on my chest--which if I had my impenetrable leather jacket wouldn't have been a problem but _Diana_ took it. There was a lot of blood coming out of me, staining my shirt.

"Bitch, that was sixty bucks!" I pulled my hand away which was thick with crimson red blood on my fingers.

The second girl grabbed me from behind as the first one went for my blood. I stabbed backwards with my screwdriver getting her in the diaphragm and plunged my knife into the other's heart as her teeth were about to break my skin. Sand coated me head to foot and I was covered in my blood. I had a job to do though. I ignored my pain and opened the compartment in my motorcycle that--thankfully--had three jars of Greek fire left.

I balanced the jars under my arm and gripped my dagger with my ring showing. Diana had left me my black bandana as well which I tied around my face quickly so that all the pursuer could see is my silver eyes and hair that was thrown into a pony tail because I was in new territory. Keeping myself protected and keeping the jars from falling on the floor at the wrong places.

I slowly opened the purple door on a bar with live music and dancing only they were serving shots of human blood. Lamia, dracaenae and underworld nymphs didn't even pay me any attention. They were too high on the life force that human blood supplies to be aware of anything outside their own mind. It was what I imagined monsters looked like when they were drunk and it was quite amusing. Well if I wasn't trying to kill them and all I might have laughed and enjoyed myself as well.

The bass pounded into my stomach making me feel slightly queasy. The bar was circular in the middle of the dark lit room. There were no windows or doors apart from the purple one I entered through. I stabbed a few monster as I made my way to the back of the room. A few of the monsters applauded and slurred their words thinking that the exploding vampires were their entertainment for the night.

"Fire works!" One guy clapped his bloody hands together then I stabbed him.

The first fire I threw against a wall in the back of the room and ran back through the crowd, carefully stepping over the mounds of the sand. I was already covered in enough sand as it was: I didn't need more on my favorite black leather boots. I planted the next fire near the door so it would make for a difficult escape. Okay.

Now for the difficult part. I knew that the quickest way to burn down the bar was to set the alcohol on fire it would result in an instant explosion. Now the difficult part was getting me out of the room. I didn't really think about it anymore. I acted on and impulse and sprinted at the bar chucking the Greek fire at the big supply of alcohol in the center. I didn't even bother to look if I made my mark. I always make my mark. I just ran out of there as fast as I could.

I ducked behind the dumpster waiting for the flames to become great and threaten even me. I heard hissing noises from the angry monsters inside, a few were clapping too until it was their turn to blow up as well. There was a big explosion alerting me that I had met my mark. The purple door was blown against the opposite wall with a loud clatter which barely drowned out the sound of popping noises. It was like popcorn as all the monsters turned back into the sand of which they came.

I crouched behind my dumpster with my screw driver and knife ready for any of the monster to come out screaming with rage. There was no need to do so. No one came out. I smiled and dialed 9-1-1 while humming Strawberry Swing to myself. The fire needed to be put out before it could spread to any of the other neighboring facilities.

"Hello." I said pleasantly like I was calling the fire department to ask them if they would like to have tea with me later on. "We need fire trucks."

Sirens echoed in the night as the fire trucks approached quickly as they could. Two large engines and a few police cars showed up when the Greek fire had died out and turned to regular mortal fire.

I watched the fire engines fight to put out the fire quickly from across the street. Fire men rushed into the fire on their commanders orders hoping to find survivors but all they found was a whole lot of sand. I sat on the steps of a jewelry store drinking some Coke so I wouldn't fall asleep. Reporters came not a second after the fire was completely out. They held microphones to the firemen and the owners of the buildings asking about what happened. The reporters looked tired and so did the firemen. I felt bad for lighting the fire at such an inconvenient time of night I knew that I sure was tired. I needed another Coke.

There was a a soda machine across the street where I got my first soda so I waltzed over there and the reporters ignored me like the young teenager I was. I passed the fire chief giving and interview. He spoke about the sand and used the word "odd" a lot. Like about the "odd little girl who called" or how "odd it was that there was sand on the floor" or how "oddly the fire had occurred." I didn't care I grabbed my Coke and took my motorcycle from where I hid it. I was on my way home. Finally.

I collapsed on my bed.

"Huh." My eyes gradually--no that's the wrong word they were like the freaking titanic when hit the ice berg—they were down. And I was asleep for a good...hour or so before I had to wake up again. Looks like I get to go through school and detention with only three hours of sleep. Ask anyone I'm very crabby when I don't get a lot of sleep. Gods help Annakeyla.


	10. Annakeyla Detention with the immortals

Chapter 10

I held back a groan as I got up to go to see my detention teacher, Mr. Lane.

"How long do we have detention?" I asked in my sickly sweet voice, batting my eyelashes.

"Two weeks," he said, not looking up from his papers.

I sighed. "Mister.... Lane, is it?" I said, he looked up at me and I decided to use my favorite (and forbidden, but clearly that never stopped me. See, that's probably why I like Alec. We both could bring the apocalypse with our 'bad behavior') trick, the alluring sea eyes. I changed the color of my eyes to a very pretty aqua color and made them sort of spin in a wavy way to get people to do what I wanted. Like have less detention. Three days is reasonable, I'd say.

"Yes?" he said in a dazed voice.

"Can we have three days of detention please sir?" I said trying not to smile as I said it.

"Yes," he said in the same voice.

I grinned as I walked away saying "Thank you".

I told you it always worked.

I grabbed my stuff from my locker and went back to the detention room. Adriana was in there when I returned. She completely acted like as if I did not exist, though she was trying to pass it off as staring off into space. I knew better, though, since I did that often too.

But I did notice that there were two boys were at Mr. Lane's desk and Mr. Lane was asleep.

I looked over and said to them "Wanna do me a favor and not wake him up so I can ditch and get the hell outta here?"

They both looked back simultaneously and I had to restrain myself from thinking 'whoaaa they're hot'.

Um, wait I did just think that. Damn!

The hotter one with dark brown hair and mahogany eyes shrugged and said "Ya sure whatever. As long as you agree to come with us," he said with a hot cocky grin.

I looked at the other guy with black hair and black eyes like night but were somehow nice looking. Whoa. Weird.

And he looked too familiar but somehow not in a good way even though he was gorgeous.

"Sure, whatever," I said to them with a smile. Adriana looked at me for a second but looked away as soon as I met her eyes.

So I left with two hot guys even though I technically was dating Alec. Weirdest thing I've ever done and probably the stupidest, once I figured out what actually was going on.

The hot guy with mahogany eyes didn't change much, which was good because he was cool. But the guy with black eyes changed into my least favorite god, Hades.

Which meant that leather jacket, hottie biker stud was Phobos because no other god has eyes that can scare you out of your pants. Except they never tended to work with me. Maybe that was cause he was always hitting on me. Ugh, he's almost as bad as Leo! Except you know, Leo doesn't hit on me. Cause if he did...okay that's just maddddddd weird I honestly don't even wanna think about it. Ew!

Oh right, most hated god standing right in front of me.

"You!" I yelled at Hades, "What the hell do you want?!"

Hades grinned. He had ugly sickly pale white skin like a ghostly white color, demonic black eyes that made you see scenes of death, and black hair. His long black cloak went down to the floor and he had his staff with him.

"You are truly an amusing little hero. You think that you can do whatever you want. I'm sure that's Hermes's work partially."

I pretended he didn't say his last sentence.

"But," Hades said darkly now, "You cannot get in the way of this war. This gives me the opportunity to take over Olympus!" he said, the glimmer of hope in his evil eyes.

I looked at Phobos. "And lemme guess, you support this only because it involves war and fear."

"Naturally," he said with a smile, "Plus you and your hot Artemis-demi-goddess-would-be-friend were involved. You know, I still have sex with people who are taken," he said giving me a look that I completely ignored. Naturally.

"Ya, thanks but no thanks darling. Baby steps. And I'm taken for a longgg time because I love Alec. Sorry," I told him, but loving the sound of me saying 'I love Alec'. "As for you Hades, you need to remember who you're messing with. Oh, and maybe how you took my mother?!?" I yelled, lunging at him. He shot me off easily by shocking me with black death energy from his staff.

"You silly girl, you're little demigoddess friend is probably dying and here you are lunging at me for your dead mother," Hades laughed evilly.

"Oh shit, of course! You BASTARD!" I yelled running towards the door. I didn't leave without throwing one of my handy dandy bobby pin needles at Hades's eye. It missed unfortunately but I heard him swear at me as he disappeared back to the Underworld with Phobos.

There was one thing I loved about gods was that they were always so cocky and reliant that their plans would work.

I would enjoy proving Hades wrong.

I ran back into the detention room and switched my bracelet into a sword. I saw the Fury scratching and screeching at Adriana as she just struggled to keep it away from her with--was that a screwdriver? Ohmygodsandgoddesses it was. Um, okay. Anyway, the teacher was completely out cold sleeping, unaware of anything going on. Rolling my eyes, I ran from the doorway and jumped off a desk so I could reach the flying beast which had huge, skeleton wings, skeleton body, red horrifying eyes, a black beak and black, long, curling, painful -looking claws. The whole being was surrounded by a black shadowy substance, black as ink.

I swung viciously at it in the air as I flipped to do so, landing on another desk across the room. The Fury snapped its huge ugly beak at me and scratched me with its claw on my shoulder. I bit my lip in pain as it did so, and i looked down to see blood staining my pale blue Nike t shirt. It hurt like hell, but i worked through it.

"You don't like that, eh?" I said to the Fury, "And I loved this shirt by the way, so now you die twice as painfully!"

I saw Adriana curled up on the floor holding her chest and I saw a lot of blood. Uh oh. That's never a good thing.

Shit.

The Fury swooped down and swatted at me again, and I swung, cutting the underside of its belly.

"HAH!" I yelled, watching it land in pain. It growled at me and flew back at me still, however.

I did a cartwheel to get under its belly and then chopped off its wing as close to its body as I could get. It screeched, causing a sound that made my ears feel like they were bleeding. They weren't though, I'd know if they were.

I stabbed downward once it fell to the ground and the Fury stopped moving. Pulling my sword out, I went over to Adriana.

I looked at her and sighed, rolling my eyes. I can't believe I'm about to save this girl's life (for the second time since I technically already saved her from the Fury) after I let her beat the shit outta me and break my nose.

Well, at least I knew I was a semi nice person.

"C'mon Adriana, I'll take you back to my place and fix you up," I said in a slightly annoyed voice. "Oh and you're welcome," I told her as i picked her up to carry her to my car. I guess it's a good thing she's semi unconscious, cause she probably would've stabbed me for that.

But I could've sworn I saw her smile a little bit when I said it. Or maybe that was just me. I honestly didn't really care, Adriana needs major medical help for that gash on her chest and I could use a little for my shoulder.

So naturally, I called Alec as I sped off at 90 mph to my house.

"Leo helllllp!" I yelled running/limping to the door.

"Noooo." He muttered from somewhere inside.

"I'm dying."

"Well I'm busy."

"Leo please!" I heard myself beg. It's never a good sign when I'm begging, and I didn't appreciate hearing me drop down to that level.

He came to the door, his face full of anxiety and worry from the tone of my voice. There was a blonde girl next to him who was (surprisingly) fully dressed.

"Help." I panted. He ran over and took Adriana from me and guided me inside to the couch then disappeared somewhere with Adriana in the back of the house. The blond girl sat in the chair uncomfortably looking at all of the blood that was coming out of me. Leo appeared again in the room with blood on his hands. He looked so freaked out like he was the one dying on the couch instead of me.

"What do I do?" He asked bewildered. "Oh gods, you're hurt," he said, looking at my arm and freaking out even more. If I weren't so hurt, it would be pretty amusing to

"Find Alec but make sure Adriana doesn't bleed out first," I said, the gash in my shoulder starting to feel numb.

"How?"

"I don't know hold the wound shut if you have to." He didn't smile at the idea of having to hold Adriana's chest, he still looked really freaked out.

"Uh. Paper towels." He ran into the kitchen.

He comes back putting down his cell phone and throwing out a bunch of paper towels. "You owe me a new bed. And are you okay?"

"Since when do you care and where's Alec?" I asked ignoring his comment completely.

He frowned. "Listen sis, I have always looked out for you."

The fact that he was so serious when he said that scared me slightly. Who was this guy and what had he done with Leo?

"Uh... you okay Leo?" I said uncertainly.

He rolled his eyes. "One day you'll remember me saying that and think I'm a good older brother. Alec's coming," he said, walking a way with a small smirk to go check on Adriana. Nice to feel loved. The blonde girl looked from me to him and got up to follow him like a puppy. I held the towel she had given me for my wound. She was an alright girl, whoever she was. Too bad she was probably being used by my bro.

"I'm older!" but my voice was slightly hoarse because of the pain I was getting from my shoulder. The blood seeped through the towel easily and I was close to screaming when I put any kind of pressure on it.

"Keyla?" Alec said from the door. "Gods, what happened to you?" he said in a frantic, worried voice as he opened the front door and came over to me. I sat upright, ignoring the pain as I did so.

"No, no, it's okay I'm fine," I told him. He pulled me into his arms.

"Why do you always say you're fine when it's obvious you're hurt?" he said with a small smile, "I can fix it."

"Adriana first, please," I told him as I was beginning to pass out on his shoulder.

"Whoa, what is she doing here?" he asked.

"They sent a Fury at her in detention."

"I thought that cut looked like claw marks. Let me fix you up first, please, you're about to pass out," he said, his pretty blue eyes meeting mine. Those were about the only things I could focus on at the moment.

"But Adriana..." I said in a whisper. I felt my eyes closing.

I could see Alec was set on helping me first. His eyes had a personality of their own and gave that away. He was very stubborn to begin with, though.

"No, you first. You're dying," he said, laying me down on the couch. I saw Leo come out, opening his mouth to say something but then shutting it.

"Please... Adriana..." I whispered, putting my head down and closing my eyes. I heard him groan slightly at my stubbornness and I wanted to smile, but I had no energy to do so. I felt like the world was full of shadows and I was becoming one of them. I felt Alec's lips on mine and I tried to force myself to wake up but there was not enough blood in me to do so. I heard his footsteps head into Leo's room where Adriana was.

Ha-ha I got through to the stubborn boy and got a kiss...

I went out cold.

My necklace was still on me, so my nightmare thing (it wasn't exactly a nightmare cause I wasn't sleeping, I was passed out) was horrible.

I saw Hades destroying souls in the Underworld because he was so angry that I had foiled his 'genius plan'. Cause he didn't give it away to me, ah-bviously. That was sarcasm if you didn't know.

"Ya, but she's good. I shoulda got her number," Phobos said in Hades's throne, sharpening his sword and looking bored. Hades hit him lightly with his staff so he would get up out of his chair.

"The only thing that's she is good at is getting in my way. And that must be stopped," Hades growled.

"But she's hott," Phobos objected. I felt like laughing, but I didn't know if I was actually there or not. "Reaaaaally hot." He said nodding his head then...never mind that doesn't need to be repeated. Guys are pervs, especially Greek guys.

Hades rolled his eyes at Phobos. "You are definitely your father's son. Following around the pretty girls."

Phobos raised an eyebrow. "Oh and you and Persephone? Okay, alright there Uncle Hades," Phobos said in a semi groan, "And how do you intend to stop Annakeyla?"

Hades looked evilly thoughtful for a moment or so and then smiled in his grotesque evil way. "We are going to trick her brother into telling Adriana the truth. Then Zeus will start a war against Artemis, Poseidon and everyone else involved and I shall rule after they kill each other!"

The best part of this little nightmare thing was Phobos just looking at Hades after he had said that and just saying "Right..."

The scene shifted and I saw Artemis talking with Poseidon. I didn't realize how semi angry i was with Artemis until now. Her daughter was a nightmare and if, yes still if, we ever became friends, she'd be a hell of a girl to whip into shape.

"My daughter is on her deathbed!" Poseidon practcically roared at Artemis, though I could tell he was not mad at her, he was just angry in general. Artemis looked sympathetic. "Mine is too," she said softly. I saw that there was a new moon out tonight, probably because Artemis was so worried about Adriana. i had faith that Alec would save her, though. I could see the sea had huge 20 foot waves and was roaring as it crashed into the shore. My dad's anger was not something you could hold back.

Help me daddy...

The scene shifted for the last time and I was in a flashback of being at Adriana's for the first time.

'"What?"' I heard myself say.

'"I'll tell you later,"' Leo said.

The words repeated in my head endlessly.

'I'll tell you later'... 'I'll tell you later'...

Yes, Leo. Yes you will.

"She's coming around," I heard Leo say in a sigh of relief.

"Of course she is. She'd never quit like that," Alec said but he sounded relieved too. I felt him kiss my forehead and Leo groaned.

"You're lucky I like you," Leo said, "Because if I didn't, you would be dead by now."

I could almost see Alec smiling as he said "I know."

I finally opened my eyes and saw the ceiling above me. I turned my head to see Leo and Alec; Leo on the other couch and Alec kneeling on the ground next to me.

"Thanks," I told both of them sitting up and yelping in pain at my arm. Alec pushed me back down.

"Ya, I couldn't quite heal that because of Hades's shadow magic on it. It's going to take a little while to heal. I'm sorry, " he told me, brushing the hair off my face. I laughed as I heard Leo gagging dramatically.

"Oh, gag all you want Mr. I-sleep-around-with-anyone-with-boobs, including last year's art teacher," I told my brother as Alec started hysterically laughing and saying "Dude, really?"

"I liked her creativity," Leo argued, "And you're obviously fine, Anna, already dissing me five seconds after you regained consciousness. Love you too," he finsihed with a smile, walking back to his room to check on Adriana.

'I'll tell you later'...

"Leo," I said. He turned back his head at me. "Yes?"

"Remember how when we first saw Adriana and you said 'oh shit' when you saw her and—

"You wanna know what I was supposed to tell you but then conveniently forget, am I right?"

"Well at least we know he's sort of smart," Alec muttered to me. Leo glared at him and said "You're dating my sister, I'd watch it" as I giggled.

"Ya, so, what was that exactly?" I said to Leo, still smiling.

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Just tell me, gods dammit!" I said.

"I like Adriana," he said, opening the door to his room and closing it right after he said it. He opened the hallway closet then went into his room. There were noises coming out of his room that didn't sound that great. Jeez if she was still in the shape that I last saw her then what ever Leo was doing to her wasn't good. He came back out and shut the door. Wierd. Oh.

My mouth hung open and I heard Alec say "Okay then. That's a new one."

"Oh. My. Gods!" was all I could say repeatedly. Alec seemed amused at my surprise.

Leo reopened the door, slamming it into the wall and yelled "She's gone!"

I looked from him to Alec and then we both stood up at the same time.

I can't believe we lost her! Knowing her, she probably ran away. Thanks for the gratitude, bitch! We freakin' saved your life!

"There's no point in looking for her she probably ran away," I said out loud finally, "If she doesn't show in school tomorrow, then we worry," I said with an edge of anxiety to my voice. I bit my lip in worry and Leo looked at me with wild eyes.

"What else can we do?" I asked them as a legit question though I didn't mean it to be legit, I meant it as 'we can't do anything else now'.

Adriana, I'm sorry for whatever Leo did to you. Please be okay, I thought.

I erased the thought from my mind, shocked I'd even thought of it in the first place and went to bed, confused, nervous and scared. I was glad Alec stayed the night (no nothing happened like that, don't be dirty, readers).

Because I didn't know how much longer I could make it alone.


	11. Adriana Golden Angel

Chapter 11

I was numb and I hurt a lot which didn't really make sense. I was numb like my everyday actions went on around me but I wasn't really there. Mary blabbered with me at breakfast but I didn't really hear her I just watched the way her lips moved when she said my name and I wondered if everyone's face kind of took on a worried look when they spoke of me.

"Adriana. Woohoo." She snapped her fingers in front of my face but I still wasn't listening to her. I put my leg over my motor cycle and drove off before she could ask me any more questions. I was the leaves on the ground that turned in the wind and the way the snow looked dirty from all of the salt and sand. I smelt the fresh smell of winter but those were just like actions I went through when I was in one of my dreams. My chest hurt like it was being reopened over and over again. Getting a claw to your chest in painful enough it's no fun when you get a talon to it again making you close to death.

I would have died.

I could have died.

I shouldn't be alive.

Those words made me feel like a total asshole. I was covered in blood when I fought that thing yesterday with my screwdriver since my knife was in its left wing and I didn't find it since I woke up in a totally different place. I don't think I ever really woke up exactly. Everything feels so dream like. It's kind of like when you're dreaming and you take risks that you would never do in real life just because you know that you'll wake up and be fine. I felt like that.

A blond angel was there looking kind of like an old man watching his granddaughter play with a chainsaw. He had a little friend with him that he had sent away nicely and she looked like her heart was going to break but she agreed. He touched me and I couldn't do anything about it. It's not like he like you know...touched me touched me. I mean like he soothed my hair back and tried to keep my cut from bleeding. He kept mumbling to himself. He said things like "Stupid gods" and "shoulda known I couldn't get out of this" and "damn this hurts."

I remembered the warm feeling on my cheek that his hand brought when he was trying to sooth me even though I was pretty sure I was dying. I put my hand up to my cheek right where his hand had been. It didn't feel the same. His hand was the feeling of someone drowning and holding onto a life line. He was my life line. I should have died. Someone weaker then I would have. I was near close to it but I found some kind of strength inside of me and a voice started talking to me. I thought it was another angel at the time but there was no place for me among angels.

"Honey, pull through. It's not your time yet." The voice was light and beautiful and sort of sounded like my voice but much better. "You can make it." The voice knew I could and I knew I could and those green eyes were so sad but they gave me strength that the angel didn't. The eyes reminded me of something, life, humanity, innocence, family and the time before Poseidon screwed me up. They gave me something that I hadn't felt in a very, very long time. Hope.

I think I might have held onto that boy's hand with all the might my body allowed me to use. He was my life line and I wasn't letting a stupid bird kill me that easily.

"You're going to make it. You're stubborn." He promised me with a smirk. My vision was too blurry to really see him the right way but I could see the angel's hair and eyes. Everything but that was hard to make out. My dizziness could be the reason why I didn't notice the second boy in the room until he spoke to my angel.

"She's just about dead. She should be." He looked at me with wonder clear in his blue eyes. He laughed for a second but it was hallow. "Like the Princess Bride. She's only half dead."

"Fix her." My angel growled.

"Alright. That's what I'm doing." The angel kept my hand while the other boy worked. I think he worked. I couldn't feel anything but that hand. The pain eased but I still felt mighty dizzy and really sleepy but I knew that I wasn't going to die. My angel let go of my hand which I hadn't realized that he was holding instead of me. My whole body was limp. I thought that I was holding his hand.

"She'll live. Barely. We need to get her some blood and a lot of sleep." The boys voice was just a dim sound like I had cotton balls in my ears but my angels voice broke through effortlessly.

"Now get my sister! She's dying too! But she could've fooled me, with all of her joking and sarcasm."

"I was gonna get her first. And remember this is Annakeyla you're talking about, she's like that." He muttered but ran to the door.

My angel's hand soothed my hair back out of my face and I felt something warm and tingly on my forehead then he was gone and I had no more reason to stay awake anymore. I was just about to give into the darkness around me that I knew was probably what death felt like because I saw a black horse and the sleep didn't feel very nice.

The silver voice of my other angel spoke to me though. "Daughter. You must leave. Wake up."

It had taken all of my energy to open my eyes, little lone get into a standing position. My chest hurt a lot and the black horse had an amazing amount of power that pulled at me like a magnet, trying to get me to lay down and die like a good mortal. I had trouble walking away from the horse but the silver voice kept speaking in my minds ear.

"Ignore her, she's just angry. You're almost to the window. I promise if you jump you'll land it."

"Promise?" I asked the angel in a slurred voice.

"Promise." I jumped and some how stumbled all the way home. Of course I hurt like crazy all the way home and I collapsed into my bed with a nasty cut on my chest.

Eleanor flipped out at me and I covered my chest so she wouldn't see that I was hurt. I accepted hatred better then pity. My motorcycle turned up the next day. I didn't know if the demigods dropped it off or if I just dreamt up the whole thing. I didn't care because I'm still in that dream state.

I knew that I was dead, or should have been dead. The black horse could only mean just that. All the shadows around me as I rode to school reminded me of the scary horse. Talking to angels—that's even worse. I never really had been very religious because I hate the gods but I had encountered two angels. A golden one and a silver one and they both seemed like they loved me for just a little bit. Maybe, just maybe I'm going insane and I'll wake up now.

I parked my motorcycle and trotted into school, still not paying attention to anything.

Ironic how it's Friday the thirteenth. My bad luck kind of came a day early, maybe I would have good luck today. The reaction of the kids in my school doesn't count as bad luck. Kids will be kids.

People were the same and my locker was the same but I was seeing things totally differently. The girl that just gave me a dirty look did it for a reason. She did it because I did the same thing to her yesterday. If I was being sympathetic then the world was surely going to end. I quickly grabbed my Calc things so I wouldn't have to talk to Mary—or have Mary talk to me and I nod and pretend to be attentive, that is. It's not that I don't take interest in her fabulously pink boring stories it's just that I don't care. So I don't really take an interest in them.

I wasn't watching where I was going and I didn't even listen to my surroundings. I was utterly and completely unguarded. I was a sitting duck since I didn't really have much blood in me and a huge gash on my chest. Wonderful. I should have just picked up a blow horn and started yelling 'Kill me' or 'Free meat!' I was thinking of my golden angel and trying to remember what he looked like other then his eyes and hair. He was most likely a result of me being high from the lack of blood as was the silver voice but I kind of liked thinking—hoping—that he really did exist.

Idiotitdiotidiotidiotidiot. IDIOT. If my cult could just see me now they would have murdered me for feeling anything but bloodlust. Ah, I need to go hunting tonight. Maybe I'll blow up another bar. Give those vampires some more fireworks. Maybe I'll even bring Annakeyla, she proved her self quite helpful in a fight. Just kidding!

I still hate her. Really. I do. Seriously. Even if she is sort of funny. No she's not. I thought of when she had carried me away from that god awful bird thing and had said 'here Adriana I'll take you home and fix you up, oh, and you're welcome.' I could have taken it! I didn't need any help! But her sarcasm was interesting unlike Mary's stories. How did I kick her ass in gym again? She took on a whole Fury! Well sure I only had a screwdriver to defend myself with but...I felt the spot in my boot where I kept my screwdriver since my knife was still lost somewhere.

I sat down in the back of the class room again and fixed my eyes on the chalk board. The dream world occurred around me while the chalk board played out the scenes from the night out like a movie. Me—dying. Me—dying again. Jeez I died a lot. My golden angel kept showing up the most though. He was my favorite part. I didn't just say that. I pulled out my notebook and started to write about the last two nights. All of the emotions. My cult should know everything no matter how gruesome.

A group of demigods saved my life.

I stared at that line for a very long time. The images swam through my mind again like it was a constant sign that you pass on the highway reminding you that there is a McDonalds in twelve miles, ten, five...I don't like them. I'm not getting off the highway for a freaking Big Mac with fries.

I do not owe them anything however. Don't kill them unless provoked to do so, they are under my close attention currently. Any slip up and I will make sure they are dead for it.

I might have exaggerated the truth a tinsey—tinsey bit. Just a smidge.

I told the story of the bar and the Greek fire and my missing gear, everything. I still had a few minutes until the first bell rang so naturally all the kids were out in the hallways talking. Who wants to be in Calc class early? Just Adriana, the calc nerd.

The door flew open like some one in a rush to get their homework in or something. I didn't turn around I just kept writing quickly as the images haunted my head worse then any other scary movie or kill I had ever witnessed. I heard a sigh that cut through my little dream world easily. .Gosh. I can't look.

Just a peek maybe. My chin edged over to the spot that the person took to my right. The chair right across from me. I didn't allow my eyes to fallow—it took all of my concentration to keep on writing and to ignore the very bright, golden, presence of somebody. I. Will. Not. Look.

My stubbornness was for nothing though because right after the first warning bell another person came in with the same sigh and I heard it since my dream world was shattered. I was wide awake.

"Oh uh hey Leo." The voice of Annakeyla sounded surprised. "You're here early. Why...?" The golden presence only grunted. . I didn't dream it up. Thank you, what ever was looking out for me at the time that I was unconscious and he couldn't tell that I was holding his hand.

Damn. I was high. That had to be it. I was seeing thing, feeling things. The cotton balls in my ears when the one guy talked and the golden light that seemed to engulf Leo. He didn't have any light around him now. It was more of a...feeling of gold. Crap.

"I...uh...didn't sleep well so I...uh thought that I might actually attend school on time."

The boy isn't even worth the time. Don't bother with him. I've noticed that he is extremely stupid and might not even know about his parental heritage.

What do I say to them? _Heyah, thanks for saving me, I'm really grateful. Anything you guys need I'll be more then happy to help._ That isn't exactly _me_. This is way more difficult then I could imagine. Was it worse if I didn't say anything at all? I closed my notebook and took a deep breath. Now or never.

I looked over at the siblings. Leo was staring at the chalk board like it was the biggest Hershey bar he's seen in his life. I could hear the angels singing. Annakeyla was finishing a text that her fingers flashed over then snapped her phone shut before the teacher could notice.

How do I put this!?!? "Hey, I don't know what happened yesterday...nor do I really want to but uh...let's not try that shit again." My hand floated up to my chest involuntarily.

Annakeyla turned to face me with a clearly amused expression on her face. "Well, that's certainly one way to put it," she said with a small smile, "And I know how you feel," she finished, her hand on her tightly wrapped shoulder. "You can blame Hades though."

I had to hold my tongue to say that I could blame all the immortals for existing in the first place but I didn't really feel like being a total bitch to the girl who saved me—even if she was a demigoddess of Poseidon. "Yeah, well this doesn't mean like...we're friends or anything."

She snickered. "Ya, I knew that. I'm not stupid, you know. Athena does teach me, remember."

"Can you stop talking about them like they are natural?" I muttered. She assumed that I like knew her whole life or something. I didn't nor did I care who taught her. As far as I am concerned she is pretty stupid for continuing this conversation, then again I am just as to blame for dumping gasoline into the fire.

"They're natural to me for your info," she said nonchalantly.

Why am I talking to her? She just wants to start a fight which wouldn't be very fun on her side. I would have a ball. I have no guilt, no little voices telling me to lay off. Then again she did seem different. That's what you get for letting your self get to know a demigoddess. My meaner half hummed in a I-told-you-so manner. I hate myself.

YOU'RE JUST AS UNNATURAL!!!! I screamed it as loud as I could in my head because if I said it out loud it would lead to more detention in the long term and I really don't want to go to detention again—well with her. I wouldn't care if I was put in jail as long as I never saw her and Leo again. Especially not Leo.

I looked away from Annakeyla and the green eyes of Leo that had shifted from the chalkboard to my face. It was like he was trying to commit it to memory or something. Maybe he wanted to kill me. I hoped that he did. Annakeyla went back to texting but I wasn't sure if the green eyes ever moved away from me for the rest of the hour.

As soon as I was out of the math room and away from Leo my dream world went up around me again and it was easy to stay numb to my surroundings. When the lunch bell rang I couldn't even remember what I had done in the other subjects except for Calc. The day was a dream that I forgot when I woke up again during lunch. Mary had me sit with her friends again like she had yesterday even though I knew that her friends weren't too crazy about me. You wouldn't believe what they all liked to talk about. Leo. Leo. Leo. He's so hot. He's so cool. I like him so much. I wanted to scream!

"What do you think about the new boy?" One of Mary's friends asked me out of courtesy rather then interest.

"I don't know. I haven't really talked with him yet. He's in my Calc class." I shrugged and went back to wishing that I was anywhere but here.

"Well what do you think about him...?" Mary pushed with a big grin on her face.

"He seems cocky, big headed, annoying, horny, a man slut and a pig." I told them right out. I heard laughter from behind me and looked over my shoulder to see the retreating blonde head of Annakeyla who sat down with her brother and two other blonds and of course Misty. Misty who was at the time looking like she wanted to knock Leo on the table and start making out with him. Ew. Gross. Leo. Ew. I found a new earned respect for Annakeyla for agreeing with me on Leo.

"Excuse me I have a call." I took out my phone and pretended that it was vibrating. I strode past the table of blonds and felt Leo's eyes on me all the way out the door. Oh, I really hope he doesn't fallow me.

I looked at my cell phone and decided to call my cult just because I knew that they would answer even if they were in the middle of class. I pushed the two button—Ryan's speed dial number. It rang only once before Ryan's clear voice said "Hello."

"Hey you aren't busy are you?"

"Nah, just Globle." I heard the shrill voice of my old teacher Ms. Charlotte who was like fifty and still not married and thought she was perfect because she didn't believe in the partnership of men and women through marriage. She feels that an unmarried woman is a strong woman. I just think that she's so ugly that no one wants to propose to her. "What's up?" The way her voice echoed in through the phone made her sound like she was either in the hallway or in the bathroom.

"I'm in lunch and I hate it here."

"No one to sit with?"

"Just the opposite actually."

"Sorry. Hey I was going to call you next block. I was watching the news and there was this very peculiar report on a fire down in Queens. They found lots of sand..."

"It was a very nice party." I mused.

She laughed. "My dad told me that's why he doesn't let me out of his sight." We both laughed because it was so easy for Ryan to get out of her dad's sight. He was some wealthy important business man of sorts and was like always working so she just had to convince the Nannies to let her out of the house.

"It was an easy one, a bunch of blood suckers."

"That sucks. No pun intended."

"One of them got me pretty good on the chest."

"Eh, you'll live."

"Jeez I hope so." I hadn't realized that my mind was wandering back to the cafeteria, wondering what the blond table was doing right now. I wasn't really talking about the little scratch anymore.

"Are you writing yet?"

"I got a journal yesterday and am already on entry two."

"Don't forget anything. We need to know exactly what's going on. I feel so bad about letting you be their all alone even if you are the boss."

"I am the boss."

"You'll be fine, you always are."

"And don't forget it."

"Ah, shit. The po-po is coming for me. I have to try and get out of detention."

"Sorry that my call wasn't that important."

"No problem boss. Now go make some friends, learn something."

"Good-bye Ryan." I could imagine the way that she would wink at me before she ended the call and confronted our—her—school trooper. He was such a push over for a pretty girl which Ryan was. She had dark hair that looked purple in certain lightings and grey eyes that saw through everything like it was transparent.

I guess I better get back to lunch. I sighed and headed back for the cafeteria. The conversation stopped at my table when I entered but Mary looked pretty defensive. They were talking about me most likely. I picked at my chicken sandwich but didn't really eat it since eight pairs of eyes were on me like I was doing something amazing.

"Staring is rude." I muttered without looking up from my sandwich.

"We...uh...sorry," The girl with tea eyes and red hair, the one who had the courtesy to ask my opinion on Leo, muttered.

"You and that girl Annakeyla got in a fight yesterday and then you have detention and she comes back with that." One of Mary's friends—Elsa—who seemed generally a loud mouth pointed out in an anxious voice. Maybe I just know how to hide a gruesome wound and she likes to flaunt it off like a war prize. Once mine scars over I would do the same so that people will be even more afraid of me but not just yet.

"And you think I harmed her," I finished easily. My eyes slowly went up to meet Elsa's caramel ones. Her freckled nose was pointed down at me because she's so tall but she shrank back like I sat feet above her.

"It's the easiest accusation." Mary hissed at Elsa but she didn't even bat an eyelash.

"I did nothing to her. She brought harm on her own and me. Don't be going pointing fingers at people with sharp teeth." I spoke cooly. She looked angry but didn't further her questions. The girls started talking about the other new kid that was sitting with Leo.

I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder at the crew of demigods. All four of them were watching me. Leo was looking at me like he couldn't decide whether I was some blessing or if I was his own personal demon summoned up to destroy him. Annakeyla was looking quite amused and hopeful as she watched me while 'Alec'—or so the girls at our table called him—looked equally amused but had some unsettling thoughts brewing in his brain. But the last blonde girl was looking at me like she wanted to jump at me right now with a knife and finish what the Fury started.

"Are you guys like friends?" Mary's voice was a rude awakening from the very nice fantasies of my golden angel. I wished that I was still dying.

"Uh, yeah we're like detention buddies." I muttered willing myself to turn away from the green ocean eyes that were luring me in. Gosh dammit.

"All four of them?"

"Nah. I don't really know them that well."

"Just watch she'll be sitting with them by the end of the month, I mean look at her and look at them. They are like one big freaky family of gorgeous assholes." Elsa whispered into her neighbor's ear. No one seemed to notice the comment so I pretended not to either. My face was a mask of pink happiness. Psyche.

"They seem to know you." One of the girls muttered.

"Everyone seems to know me." I muttered. I hated having attention on me all the time! Jeez Louise!

"You're on You Tube." A girl with bouncing blonde hair piped up with a smile. I scowled at her.

"Great."'

"I'll show you if you like."

"No thanks."

The girl shrugged a delicate, bulimic shoulder. She pursed her lips and started applying some shiny pink lip gloss on. I looked over my shoulder to see that Alec was approaching the table. Go. Away.

He's heading right for here? WHYYY?! Because your part of them silly. No, I'm not. They saved your life and you will never kill them. Yes I can. I can kill Alec right now. I was about to say the magical words, 'come out side with me?' but he knocked over his Mountain Dew all over Elsa.

"Ew!" She shrieked and stood up.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." He looked sincere but there was a wicked gleam in his eyes like and undercurrent of malice—playful malice, like mischief—that the other girls seemed to over look. Who was this kid?

"Echk. It's all over me!"

He handed her a few napkins quickly. "Here—sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine. You can help me clean up if you want." She batted her long eye lashes at him.

"Uh, you can do it yourself. I have a girlfriend." He smiled at her and walked back to the table where Annakeyla was laughing her head off. The blonder girl still looked murderous. Leo still looked stupid.

"Figures that _she _would be his girl friend." Elsa said sourly scrubbing at her arms and throwing death glares at Annakeyla who seemed unaware of them completely. "I can't possibly get this off of me." She groaned and looked at Mary. "Come to the bathroom with me."

That was one of the strangest rules that existed in the high school world among girls. You never go to the bathroom alone. I don't get the concept of this rule. Maybe they are afraid of running into _that _guy and having to talk to him all by themselves or maybe they think that some monster will come and kill them. I don't know their reasoning, I just know that it's stupid and you'll never see me use the _buddy system._

"Sure." Mary gave me a quick you'll-be-fine glance before fallowing her into the hallway.

"Assholes." The girl that Elsa was whispering to shook her head but I could tell that she really was jealous that she wasn't sitting over there with them.

"Uh, guys the last person who called them that got dew-ified, I would lay off the insults." I had to hold back the snicker that my lips so desperately wanted to form. I was more afraid of pinkness then darkness and these girls, they definitely had pinkness.

They all looked at me like I had three heads. I was no Cerberus. I was a passing fad and without Mary there directing the conversation at me to make me feel more homey they really didn't care if I was there or not.

They started talking about Leo again. "I heard that he's really good in bed." A girl with lots of make-up on to hide her softball helmet pimples remarked.

I almost choked on my sandwich. "From who?"

"Becky." The girl nodded the pixie like girl with the short blonde curls and big eyes.

"My cousin died last year having his kid." Becky said sadly.

More choking.

"I heard that he like does it every day—once in the morning once in the afternoon."

I was pretty close to tears from my lack of oxygen.

"Can we not talk about Leo and how horny he is?" I asked tossing my sandwich in the garbage. I suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.

"Oh, he's so gorgeous though." The softball girl hummed looking at him.

"And single." Another said with the same look in her eyes. They acted like he was the last man—er boy—on the planet.

Becky looked like she was going to be sick. I knew the feeling but unlike her, I didn't need this. I stood up and walked away pouring the rest of my water in my mouth and throwing it in the recycling bin. I walked past the godlings table and didn't even look back. I was proud. Pink. Yuck. Personally, I didn't know what they were talking about. Leo looked like he hadn't had a good night sleep last night and had been banging his head on a rock instead of trying to do so. He had pastel smudges under his eyes. His hair was messy and I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't wearing clean underwear.

Detention in three hours.


	12. Annakeyla new kids

Parallel Chapter 11:

Annakeyla~

"Okay. I feel mean now. But she was calling us assholes so I guess she sort of deserved it," I admitted with a small smile. Alec had just finished spilling mountain dew all over that Elsa girl. I felt mean still, however, but I'm not going to deny the fact that it cracked me up how she tried to flirt with Alec and was almost harshly rejected by him.

"Oh whatever, she deserved it, the bitch. Now she will see that you don't call godlings assholes," Alec said smiling with a wicked and mischievous look. He amazed me with his bluntness sometimes.

"Harsh," Leo smirked. "If they weren't so pink infested I'd probably invite them over, though. I just can't stand little pink obsessed girls, not even if they had D-cups."

"Ugh. Leo, completely necessary?" I groaned at him as I ate the not so yummy pizza the school had for lunch.

"What, I'm just stating my opinion," he argued defensively.

I shook my head at him and heard a tray and person plop down in the seat next to me. It was what should have been Kara, but instead she looked replaced with some girly monster. I looked down at my outfit of a white v-neck t-shirt, teal cami and black Boston sweatpants.

"Uh, Kara?" I began uncertainly.

"Yes, KeyBey?" she asked sweetly, facing me with her over made up face.

I almost gagged at what she had just called me. "What did you just call me?"

"Oh, KeyBey, you know you love it," she giggled, flipping her hair back like a priss. "Don't you love it Leo?" she smiled flirtily at him.

He was looking at her chest which was barely covered up with her low cut red shirt. "Yes," he answered, not moving his eyes. Pathetic.

She giggled again. "Thank you. Well KeyBey darling I need to talk to you for a minute, alone. Come with me?"

"Sure," I sighed. What the fuck had happened to her? I mean I know she told me she visited her dad yesterday... but then she comes back as this thing?

When we were a good distance away she said to me "You little bitchy backstabber. You think you're so great because of your dad, don't you? Thinking that you can go and talk shit about me with your boyfriend. If it weren't for me you wouldn't be with him."

"Ex-cuse me?" I demanded. "I don't know who you are, but you're not Kara and I have no fucking clue what the hell you're talking about."

"Oh don't pull that with me. My dad told me all about your little conversations about how you think I'm bossy. Well now you're not gonna have me around to save your ass every time you and him get into trouble. And good luck with that," she snickered and then gave me a nasty smirk.

I was raging. Zeus was making up shit abut me to get this girl away from me and I had no clue why. And she believed him. Plus now he's making her into a totally different person.

"Listen Kara, for your info, you hate your father, you know Alec and I wouldn't talk about you behind your back, and you hate makeup. So when you are yourself again, let me know," and I walked away from her, steaming with anger. I cast a "Tell-you-later' look at Alec and walked straight to my next class.

Leo~

Well, I'm gonna recap everything that happened before my sis got pissed off because I feel that my view is probably a lot more interesting than Annakeyla's. She's probably all "Alec this, Alec that, Alec, Alec, Alec." The two are like a freaking old married couple.

Anyway, so the Elsa pink princess girl called us assholes, which kinda pissed (mostly Alec) but us all off. So then Alec decided he didn't want his mountain dew, and was about to throw it out when he decided he was gonna put it to better use. He obviously told Annakeyla what he was going to do because he tells her absolutely everything. So then he decides to go over there... and obviously he spills the mountain dew all over the girl. I didn't really see it all because I was kind of staring at... no never mind.

But she is actually really pretty. And hott. She's like a bad ass chick kind of like Megan Fox. Gods if only she wore lower cut shirts...

Forget I said anything.

So then Kara comes over. She looks wicked hott I might mention. There, proof I don't love Adriana! Ha HA! Take that Aphrodite! Score for Leo! Uh, anyway. I don't know what happened to her overnight but I like it. Phobos probably got her. Damn him he always gets hotter girls than me! Well, if she ever comes over while Keyla's out... damn she looks good in red. Oh and she has a miniskirt on too! Where is that Jon guy I met yesterday? He should be here right now saying his pick up line to her... that kid is awesome by the way he could definitely be a godly descendent with his football skills. He's trying to convince me to be on the team...well the cheerleaders are a plus...

"Don't you love it Leo?" Kara said to me, turning to face me and batting her eyelashes. Damn and she had C cups. I think I've officially found my Adriana cure.

"Yes," I answered her, having no clue what she was talking about. She giggled at me and flipped her hair.

Ohhh, yes my cure for sure. Take that Phobos! I should call him though, see if he can hook me up with one of the Muses or someone when I'm done with Kara.

I watched Kara and my sister walk off and asked Alec "What are they...?"

"No idea," Alec shrugged.

"No, but you probably will later since you and my sister clearly keep nothing from each other. She probably even told you what size bra she wears. Or you probably freaking _checked,_ which if you did I will find out and I _will _kill you."

Alec chuckled. "Hate to tell you man, but your sister isn't like that at all. I doubt she'd ever let me do that to her."

"So you admit you want to do that to her!" I said, ready to squash this guy like a bug.

He shook his head at me. "You're hopeless," he said, then smirked and added under his breath "-ly in love with Adriana."

"I heard that and I am not!" I yelled about to crush his amused face to bits when Annakeyla walked away from Kara looking quite ticked off. Alec looked at her and she said "I'll tell you later."

Still furious at my sister's stupid boyfriend and about to demand of Annakeyla why she didn't say she would tell _me_ as she walked out of the cafeteria, the bell rang and Alec smiled and said "Oops, guess you'll have to try and kill me some other time. Maybe then you'll have a better chance. Probably not," he grinned at my infuriated expression and walked out with one of his human guy friends named James.

I think Alec might win the prize for being the most hated boyfriend of Annakeyla's ever. She needs a better taste in guys.


	13. Adriana Belonephobia

Chapter 13

I finished the day off with photography which was good. Photography was right before I had detention again with Annakeyla which was bad. Mary was waiting for me at my locker like she always tended to do after classes. She looked troubled but her smile could have fooled a less then perfect observer. Pink really does have more to it.

"You off to detention again?" Mary asked.

"Yes, Mary. I still have two more days of it." I muttered hoping that she would disappear if I thought about her exploding hard enough.

"Two more days! What happened to two more weeks! Did they let you out early for good behavior?"

"That's jail Mary."

"Same thing. School mine as well be jail! Well...is there hot guys in jail?"

"I don't know." I sighed and shut my locker and looked at my bunny rabbit of a foster sister.

"Oh, okay. Well hurry back, remember you're still grounded."

"Yeah. I haven't forgotten."

"I promise that I'll cancel all of my plans with my friends so that we can spend the whole weekend together! Or maybe I'll have them come over and we can all do each other's nails and talk about boys and you won't feel like you were ever grounded!"

"Okay Mary. Good-bye."

"Bye!" She was already texting all of her friends arranging her torturous plans. If I ever go to hell, my punishment will be to have to put up with Mary for the rest of eternity. Who wants blood, gore and chainsaws when you can be punished with pink, nail polish and lipstick?

I was almost happy to be in detention. For the moment being since Annakeyla wasn't there yet. I sighed and put down my back pack. The teacher was asleep through a bloody battle yesterday so I think I'll be able to get away with doing my homework. At least that will be an excuse for not talking to Annakeyla, unless she needs help in her Calc homework and I'll have to help her. I can just ignore her. It was so much easier to ignore her when I hated her and she didn't save my life.

A different teacher then yesterday walked into the room. He was old with a balding spot but with some hypnotically scary eyes that bored into my eyes. I thought of Leo and got the shivers. Annakeyla walked in after the teacher and plopped down on the chair with a dizzy smile on her face. I looked down at my agenda and pretended that I was trying to figure out which assignment I should do first.

I watched the teacher but every time I looked into his eyes I saw a glimpse of Leo. And really, it sucked, a lot. I looked at Annakeyla who was squinting at the teacher like she was trying to see through murky water. I looked at him again, ignoring the glimpse of Leo, like really looked at him. He looked like the average old teacher guy but he gave me a very strange feeling. It was similar to the feeling I got when I sensed monsters only times ten. He was either a very strong monster or something more...I really hoped that it wasn't something more.

The bell rang signaling the end of the day where all the good kids are on their busses leaving or driving away in their cars and the bad kids are in detention. The bell ended and I watched the teacher, he didn't say anything. He didn't introduce us or go on about how there is no talking in detention, no homework, no nothing. He didn't lecture us about how we got here and how we were really lucky to be here only for three days and if it were up to him it would be three months. Yahta, yahta, yahta.

_I think he's a monster. _I wrote down on a piece of paper and handed it to Annakeyla slyly, keeping my eyes on the teacher the entire time.

She nodded. _That or something else outta Hades._

She stood up from her desk and walked over to the teacher. Idiot. Why, why would she do that? The conversation was quick and easy. The teacher looked like he was checking out Annakeyla then his eyes went over to my prying ones. His eyes scanned my body over once, twice, several times then went back to looking at Annakeyla's boobs.

Annakeyla seemed certain of who he was now. "Phobos, what are you doing here?" she demanded with a hand on her hip.

"Hades sent me to watch...you guys." He dragged on the watch a little too long for comfort and I was thinking that maybe most of the watching he was planning on doing had nothing to do with Hades.

"Gods, why?"

"Why thank you and cause he kinda wants to kill your silver friend and he thinks you're annoying. Oh and he hates you."

"Phobos—why don't you go back to Hades?"

Her arm flinched like a toddler getting their yearly flu vaccine and I heard her take in a quick breath of air, the look of fear in her eyes was prominent.

"Belonephobia," Phobos said with a smile, "Don't you love the suffix of that word?"

"You cocky, annoying, arrogant, stupid bas—" She didn't get to finish her list of insults because just then the old teacher guy pulled her over his desk and onto his lap. He turned into a teenage guy half way through the motion. His bald spot filled in with dark think black hair and his eyes gleamed crimson. His strong muscles rippled when he placed his hand over Annakeyla's mouth to keep her from talking. She didn't look as shocked as I would have been.

I could have just looked down at my papers and started doodling and pretending that this is all completely normal. It wouldn't be the right thing to do. It would be wrong if I let the girl who saved my life basically two times to get raped on my watch. Then again...if I don't see it then it never happened. I looked up just to make sure that she was still alive. She looked quite uncomfortable sitting on the boy's lap but she was still alive.

Belonephobia. What was that? It sounded like the fear of, like, bologna. How could a person be afraid of a lunch meat? How could a person ever eat a sandwich ever again? That has to be the worst phobia yet! I knew what Arachnophobia was because in my last foster home I lived with a bunch of Arachnophobes. The used to put tape on all of the window sills and door ways so that the spiders couldn't get in-which btw made it very difficult to sneak out at night too. Once I brought a bunch of spiders in the house a freaked them out. They all ran out of the house only to realize that there were spiders outside too. Ha-ha that was a really, really fun night. I think Emily and I were laughing for a good hour.

Anyway. Fear of bologna is like...whoa. The person would be like afraid of meat then that means they would have to be like a vegetarian or something. Maybe even a vegan. I lived with a vegan family once. All of their food was made from scratch and fungus. I usually ordered pizza after dinner. The soup was good but since they didn't eat butter or eggs the bread wasn't very good neither was the French toast or spaghetti.

"Terd." I finished for Annakeyla. I assumed that she was going to say bastard because it fit the best with all of her insults but who knew maybe she was calling him a large fish. That would fit, being the demigoddess of Poseidon and all.

She muttered "Thanks" against Phobos's hand.

"Your little silver friend thinks belonephobia is the fear of bologna. Would you like to tell her what it really is?" he teased, for being the god of fear, his voice sounded very seductive.

"Uh. Mister teacher god sir." I said slowly. Phobos looked down at me with amusement written all over his face. "I'm like seventeen so I don't really have any silver hair yet. Sorry. Oh, and watch it, I could kill you when ever I feel like it. Lastly, I understand what your problem is." I stared at him and ignored the changing visions that were coming from his eyes that made my stomach queasy. I didn't show any fear.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"Yes, you are the god of fear because you are so ugly. The gods made you fear because when someone looks at you they are afraid. Whoever is in charge of making people up in Olympus seriously screwed you."

His jaw clenched and I knew that I was getting to him. "You can't really kill me since I'm a God and all but I can kill you so watch how you're talking to me."

"Yeah, well, I know what I'm afraid of."

"Boys?" He offered. I ignored his remark and continued.

"I'm afraid of ugly faces. And dammmmn you are uh-gly." His grip loosened on Annakeyla's head and I thought that maybe I would actually outsmart a god. I knew using my whits to cut class would pay off.

"You see, I knew there was a reason why I liked Annakeyla and not you. I was going to spare you, but now I am definitely going to kill you."

"You already did." I looked at him and made a few gagging sounds and dying gestures. I closed my eyes and fell back on my chair. I was dead. Not really, but he knew that too.

"I'm really starting to like her, a whole lot more." He said speaking of Annakeyla, hoping to get me to open my eyes so he could show me all of my fears. No such luck for him.

There was a sound from Annakeyla that kind of reminded me of the noise that a dying cow giving birth would make. I gathered that it might just be a snicker. She spoke against his hand but all that I could really make of it was "Ah uz iiiieally iiiike ooooou" I think she was trying to smack talk him about her liking him or something.

"You know you do and I know you do. Remember who my mother is."

I had the weirdest feeling that he wasn't talking to me. I had to get his hands off of her somehow. A plan was forming in my head, it wasn't a very good one nor did I believe that it would work at all but it was better then talking to this creep. I looked at Annakeyla who looked calm but I could tell that she really was freaking out. This guy was strong, strong enough to take both of us maybe.

I heard Annakeyla gasp and then say clearly, "I know your mother well and she tells me these things."

"Not everything."

"Oh, and Adriana, belonephobia means the fear of needles," Annakeyla told me.

"I can't hear you, I'm dead. Your boy friend here is just so ugly that he killed me. I have a phobia of ugly faces." Then I laid limp again like I was still dead.

"He is NOT my boyfriend! And I bet there is an actual phobia of that! I have a phobia of Pho—" She didn't get to finish that statement either because from the sounds of things he covered her mouth again. Jeez Annakeyla just lick his hand!

I counted to ten Mississippi, waiting for Phobos to calm down a little then yelled, "BOS!" as a loud as I could. I opened my eyes to just to piss him off that much more then made more gagging noises and died again.

I heard Annakeyla scream and Phobos's feet hit the ground, walking towards me. I heard his knife come out of his pocket. I started to rethink my plan since it wasn't really going that well. I opened my right eye slowly to see that Phobos was standing over me with an ugly looking knife. Ugly as in my guts will look very ugly across the floor when he cuts them out with it. I dared a quick look at Annakeyla and saw that she was surrounded by needles. I guess I'm doing this alone.

"Woah. You brought me back to life. It's a miracle." I said in false wonder. When Phobos still looked really angry at me I whipped my screwdriver out of my boot and yelled. "Ungaurd!" Like they used to do in the middle ages.

"I will enjoy killing you little silver girl."

"Yeah the only problem is that I don't have any fears." I stuck my tongue out at him. It was childish but his reaction made it worth while.

"Oh, so that blond guy I keep showing you is just some caution, not a fear, no you aren't afraid of him at all." He laughed.

"Blond guy?" I heard Annakeyla gasp in shock. I didn't look at her, damn you Phobos, damn you to...to Mary's special torture chamber in hell! See how you like pink!

"Most of Ar—our, uh, special girls are afraid of guys."

That brought up a memory in my head which just fueled my fire even more. "Special like 'special watch'?"

I lunged at him with my screw driver. I got it pretty deep in his stomach and he started oozing gold stuff. I ran at the wall of needles around Annakeyla and dug through them even through they hurt a lot. I cleared a path for her and helped her out. Phobos managed to get the screwdriver out of him after a lot of problems and chucked it at my head. I ducked quickly only to see the screwdriver go into the wall a good few inches right next to Annakeyla's freaked face. I really couldn't kill him with my bare hands and I hoped that she might just have and extra weapon.

"Thanks." She gasped looking at the needles once more and basically turning green and wincing.

"Yeah, do you have a sharp object?" I asked eyeing Phobos who was pulling out a screw driver and looking very upset.

"My bracelet of course."

"Yes, of course." I rolled my eyes and lunged at Phobos again. He got the screw driver out but looked calmer like he wanted to talk instead of fight. Too bad. "Hey, I bet you're afraid of mirrors because they always break in your face and get you all cut up!"

"I. Am really starting to dislike you." He said calmly and ran at me with his knife. Damn if I had my knife I would have a chance but I don't. That sucks. Annakeyla came at him with a giant ass sword. I looked around wildly for any kind of weapon. Luckily we were in my history room and our teacher had a very old, delicate bow and arrow laying on the desk. Too bad I have no idea how to work one.

I grabbed the weapon off of the desk and my hands seemed to know what they were doing all by them selves. They pulled the string back and I squinted with one eye to get my aim perfect. I was about to release when Annakeyla said, "don't kill him!"

Oh, yeah, because he just wanted to have cookies with us.

"Let's see if I can even hit him alright?" I released the string a little to my right so it would only hit right next to the heart but not in it. To my astonishment it actually hit right where I was aiming.

Hallelujah!

The god growled but disappeared into some really gruesome flames that again showed me some really scary images. I let out a whoosh of air.

"That was fun!" I looked at my bow like it was the Holy Grail. "Gimme some more gods, hey maybe your dad will be willing."

"Ya I don't think he will," Annakeyla said, sounding slightly depressed. Or maybe it was confusion, I couldn't really tell because I don't even think she knew. I didn't care, I was in a great mood and I wanted to go get some arrows for my new found talent.

"Okay, so I guess we can go home now since well, we have no teacher." I shrugged and picked up my bag. It would be okay if I _barrowed_ the bow for a while.

"Guess so," she said in reply with no expression.

"Okay." I walked out of the school whistling. It was a sunny March day out and there weren't any monsters. I left my screw driver back in the class room covered in golden goo but I liked this much more. With some fixing up it might even fit my standards. I think I'm going hunting tomorrow.

Hey I'll have a whole two days to go hunting.


End file.
